Eden Undone, Abbott Kahler
Eden Undone, Abbott Kahler
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Eden Undone
A True Story of Sex, Murder, and Utopia at the Dawn of World War II

Author: Abbott Kahler

Narrator: Cassandra Campbell

Unabridged: 9 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/24/2024

Synopsis

A power-hungry baroness with two lovers disrupts life on an Eden-like island in the Galápagos, and an isolated community descends into madness and murder—a true story of utopia gone wrong from New York Times bestselling author Abbott Kahler.

“Abbott Kahler’s wickedly gothic tale confronts an essential truth about those who ditch civilization: Try as we might, humans cannot elude the tyranny of our own nature.”—Hampton Sides, author of The Wide Wide Sea

“With taut prose and sublime storytelling, Kahler crafts an atmospheric page-turner, ominous and thought-provoking.”—Kate Moore, author of The Radium Girls and The Woman They Could Not Silence

At the height of the Great Depression, Los Angeles oil mogul George Allan Hancock and his crew of Smithsonian scientists came upon a gruesome scene: two bodies, mummified by the searing heat, on the shore of a remote Galápagos island. For the past four years Hancock and other American elites had traveled the South Seas to collect specimens for scientific research. On one trip to the Galápagos, 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. One was so devoted to a life of isolation that he’d had his teeth extracted and replaced with a set of steel dentures.

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 traumatized 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 pearl-handled revolver, staged physical fights between her two lovers and unabashedly seduced American tourists. The conclusion was deadly: with two exiles missing and two others dead, the survivors hurled accusations of murder.

Using never-before-published archives, Abbott Kahler weaves a chilling, stranger-than-fiction tale worthy of Agatha Christie. Set against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the march to World War II, with a mystery as alluring and curious as the Galápagos itself, Eden Undone explores the universal and timeless desire to seek utopia—and lays bare the human fallibility that, inevitably, renders such a quest doomed.

About The Author

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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Christy

'It could be so beautiful on earth, if humans weren't animals'. The Great War had ended but the feeling of discontent still existed for many. In Germany, war reparations were crippling the economy and Hitler was beginning to garner support. Friedrich, a doctor, and his acolyte Dore, decide 'civilisat......more

Goodreads review by Brendan

This book (and everyone in it) is BONKERS. Abbott Kahler is one of my favorites and her newest book, Eden Undone, does not disappoint. There is one major problem, though. I don't want to ruin this for you. I went in almost completely blind about the story. I think it's the best way to approach this.......more

Goodreads review by Blaine

Utterly amazing story of love, murder and the search for Utopia on the Galapagos Island of Floreana during the early years of the Depression. Abbott Kohler has written a page-turner that I could not put down. It non-fiction at its best, as she tells the story of Freidrich Ritter and his devotee Dore......more

Goodreads review by Allison

This was a true Stranger Than Fiction tale that probably would never have been known or told had not been for just about everyone on the island having kept journal, diaries, and wrote letters as often as they did. This one kept me up late, gobbling up all the pages til my eyes crossed for sleep want......more

Goodreads review by Liviu

Interesting and fairly engrossing - a tale of the modern "Robinsons", people who wanted to get away from civilization and found out that human passions still followed them - the book tries to stick out closely to the known facts and doesn't speculate too much about the mysterious deaths on the islan......more

Quotes

“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

“Eden Undone is a mind-blowing tale of adventure, obsession, and hubris, with more twists—and more eccentric characters—than an Agatha Christie mystery. (The gun-toting, sex-crazed Baroness is surely one of the more spectacular villains in true-crime history.) In Abbott Kahler’s ever-brilliant hands, truth is always stranger than fiction.”—Ada Calhoun, New York Times bestselling author of Why We Can’t Sleep

“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 Fire and The Great Pretender

“Brilliantly written, deeply researched, and wildly unpredictable, Eden Undone is a masterwork of narrative nonfiction, an immersive and exhilarating read.”—Michael Finkel, New York Times bestselling author of The Art Thief and The Stranger in the Woods

“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 favorite 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

“In describing Abbott Kahler’s wickedly gothic tale, one is tempted to reach for handy literary or cinematic references. There’s a dash of Conrad. A bit of Hitchcock. Notes of Melville, Darwin, and Robinson Crusoe—and certainly more than a whiff of Lord of the Flies. But really, Eden Undone is completely its own thing. Bizarre, mesmerizing, and compellingly tragic, Kahler’s fine book confronts an essential truth about those who ditch civilization: Try as we might, humans cannot elude the tyranny of our own nature.”—Hampton Sides, New York Times bestselling author of The Wide Wide Sea

“Kahler (the author of previous books, including Sin in the Second City and The Ghosts of Eden Park, under the name Karen Abbott) has a gift for writing gripping histories that are both sensational and thoroughly documented. Possibly her wildest book yet.”—Booklist, starred review​

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