The Black Eden: 'Wonderfully evocative and atmospheric.' WILLIAM BOYD

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Yates Township Supervisor Colleen Carrington-Atkins, who recalls vacationing in Idlewild with her family when she was growing up in the late '40s and early '50s, has big plans for the continued revitalization of the community. She says the township is working to improve the beach and restore the historic Flamingo Club on Williams Island, the community's signature natural landmark. She also hopes to encourage the development of a business district by activating an economic development corporation for the area. The township is currently developing a new master plan and a five-year recreation plan that will establish new goals for the community. While these interconnected lives are deeply involving, the book is not without its flaws and distractions. Like many multiple-point-of-view novels, the focus can become diffuse. For much of the time, the competing strands don’t really combine into a cohesive narrative. There’s also a fair amount of impeding, dry-as-dust geology to digest, with underwater terrain described as “base Zechstein anhydrite, a dependable Upper Permian salt cap”. And in the book’s first third, we encounter some curiously distracting archaic language, such as “abashedly”, “thence”, “becalmed”, “in a trice” and “but an instant”. Perhaps most egregiously, for such a meticulously researched novel, there’s a fairly major (for this James Bond fan) chronological error. In a chapter headed March 1967, Robbie and his wife leave the cinema after seeing You Only Live Twice, prompting much earnest discussion of Sean Connery’s sexiness. This would all be fine except for the fact that the film wasn’t released until June of that year. It’s easier to decode Outlander (it involves time-travel) or Braveheart (Mel Gibson IS Australian) but nothing here indicates this is not a normal historical novel written by an author of some experience: except for the puzzling density of anachronism and the Potemkin landscapes. Atkins’ granddaughter, Elizabeth, is a third-generation Idlewilder who said the community gives her “a tremendous source of pride and it anchors us in our history and culture.” She feels an embrace of joy and freedom when she is in the beach town. Plenty land and sea, he thinks. Maybe more sheep than people? It strikes him as a place at slumber, perhaps not wishing to be wakened.

One sunny day in May I flew from London to Aberdeen; mid-air the pilot warned us that we would be disembarking into cold, thunder and torrential rain . . . Here, from the Victoria Bridge, you can see Aberdeen’s River Dee proceeding sombrely toward the harbour and the North Sea beyond. Aberdeen has a certain legendary gloom about it, encased in the granite architecture that is everywhere – the houses, the quayside businesses, the civic buildings and monuments, the pubs. ‘Granite City’, they call it, and wandering the riverfront I was amused to see that a home improvements firm has taken that soubriquet for a trading name. Stop justifying every damn thing done for oil when a blind man can see some people are coining it and others getting robbed,” Mark spits at Ally. The disparate fates of the main characters are by turns inspiring, infuriating and, ultimately, heartbreaking. A wonderfully evocative and atmospheric novel, written with great narrative assurance and remarkable, meticulous detail. A tremendous achievement.’ William BoydAs climate change intensifies and the world moves towards Net Zero, governments everywhere are adopting tougher policies and stricter regulation. The “Just Stop Oil” movement frequently sabotages high-profile public occasions. Taught at several prestigious universities, sharing his knowledge and passion for literature with students.

Seeing an opportunity, four white land developers and their wives organized the Idlewild Resort Company (IRC). Erastus and Flora Branch, Adelbert and Isabelle Branch (from nearby White Cloud, Michigan), Wilbur M. and Mayme Lemon, and A.E. and Modolin Wright (of Chicago), organized IRC during the pre-World War I era. To secure land rights, Erastus Branch built a cabin, homesteaded the land for three years, and eventually obtained the title to the land through his Branch, Anderson & Tyrrell Real Estate Company, which became the central focus of the resort community. IRC had acquired over 2,700 acres (11km 2) of land. The company sold a good deal of that land, and then turned the island in Idlewild Lake over to Williams and Louis B. Anderson of Chicago, and Robert Riffe and William Green of Cleveland, who collaboratively formed the Idlewild Improvement Association (IIA) and helped build the clubhouse. IIA sold property to such notables as NAACP co-founder W.E.B. Du Bois, cosmetic entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker, Fisk University president Lemuel L. Foster, Albert B. Cleage Sr. of Detroit, Fannie Emanuel of Chicago, and novelist Charles W. Chesnutt. [14] Prof Ronald J. Stephens (2001). "A Context for Understanding Idlewild's Past" . Retrieved August 26, 2006.

Advance Praise

Ronald J. Stephens. "The Historical Context for Understanding Idlewild's Past". Provident Foundation.