Overview

WHEN PARADISE TURNS TO CHAOS, WHO WILL SURVIVE? An incredible true story of murder, romance and a fateful search for utopia in the Galápagos from the New York Times bestselling author of The Ghosts of Eden Park At the height of the Great Depression, Los Angeles oil mogul George Allan Hancock and his crew of Smithsonian scientists, who had spent four years travelling the South Seas collecting rare specimens for scientific research, came upon a gruesome scene on reaching the Galápagos: two bodies, mummified by the searing heat, on the shore of the remote island. Hancock was surprised to discover an equally exotic group of humans: European exiles who had fled political and economic unrest, hoping to create a utopian paradise. As Hancock and his fellow American explorers would witness, paradise had turned into chaos. The three sets of exiles – a Berlin doctor and his lover, a traumatised World War I veteran and his young family, and an Austrian baroness with two adoring paramours – were riven by conflict. Petty slights led to angry confrontations. The baroness, wielding a riding crop and a pearl-handled revolver, staged fights between her two lovers and brazenly seduced American tourists. The conclusion was deadly: two exiles missing, two others dead, and the survivors hurling accusations of murder. Using previously unpublished archives, Abbott Kahler weaves a chilling, stranger-than-fiction tale worthy of Agatha Christie, a mystery as alluring and curious as the Galápagos themselves. Eden Undone explores our universal desire to seek utopia, while laying bare the human fallibility that, inevitably, renders such a quest doomed.

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9780008729721

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Reviews

"""We all long for utopias to escape into, but as Abbott Kahler brilliantly demonstrates in the sumptuous storytelling feat that is her latest nonfiction book, Eden Undone, there simply is no escaping the hell that is other people. I was wowed by her research, her depiction of the tropical magic of the Galápagos Islands, her empathy for such a vivid array of characters–some of whom behave very badly–and for the larger point that paradises can be squandered by human venality."" Sarah Weinman, award-winning author of The Real Lolita and Scoundrel ""Absolutely riveting from start to the final twist of the knife, Eden Undone is a thrill ride of historical reportage. Abbott Kahler has woven an impossibly rich tapestry: an exotic locale, a cast of unforgettable characters, and a deeply haunting murder mystery. This is Kahler's most captivating book yet and will cement her place as a master of narrative nonfiction."" Susannah Cahalan, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fireand The Great Pretender"

"‘Evil under the sun, a baroness with a gun, and a utopia undone – by its very own inhabitants. Abbott Kahler writes with such luminosity, such psychological curiosity, that you’ll luxuriate in every page despite lurking horrors and suspicion … this is a voyage not to be missed’ - Maureen Callahan Sunday Times No. 1 bestselling author of Ask Not ""A wild ride through an extraordinary true story, Eden Undone is addictive and astonishing. It combines a forgotten piece of history with the urgency of a murder mystery in the most unlikely setting. It will captivate you."" –Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author of The Library Book “Abbott Kahler is a master of nonfiction suspense, with a touch of the macabre. Eden Undone reads like a dark and twisted Gilligan’s Island – half wasteland and half paradise, haunted by utopian delusions, mysterious deaths, and madness.” —Debby Applegate, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age “One of my favourite writers has knocked it out of the park yet again. In Eden Undone, Abbott Kahler has created a book as fantastic as the true story she weaves. With taut prose and sublime storytelling, she crafts an atmospheric page-turner, ominous and thought-provoking, with the best last line I’ve read in decades.” —Kate Moore, New York Times bestselling author of The Radium Girls and The Woman They Could Not Silence"

Author Information

Abbott Kahler, formerly writing as Karen Abbott, is the New York Times bestselling author of Sin in the Second City; American Rose; Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy; and The Ghosts of Eden Park. She is also the host of Remus: The Mad Bootleg King, a podcast about legendary Jazz Age bootlegger George Remus. A native of Philadelphia, she lives in New York City and in Greenport, New York.

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