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Book Summary and Reviews of Eden Undone by Abbott Kahler

Eden Undone by Abbott Kahler

Eden Undone

A True Story of Sex, Murder, and Utopia at the Dawn of World War II

by Abbott Kahler

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  • Sep 2024, 352 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

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 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.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
  1. Do you understand why Dore and Friedrich made the decision to leave their lives behind and go to the Galápagos Islands? Would you have taken—or would you now take—such a risk?
  2. Do you believe Dore and Friedrich truly loved each other?
  3. Were Dore and Friedrich prepared for the challenges they would face on Floreana? If you were in their shoes, what might you have done differently?
  4. Heinz's first wife, the mother of teenage Harry, had reservations about the sick boy joining Heinz and Margret in the Galápagos. Was Heinz right to bring him, or would Harry have been better off inGermany with his mother? If Harry were your child, what would you have done?
  5. What do you think of Margret's decision ...
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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Kahler (the author of previous books, including Sin in the Second City (2008) and The Ghosts of Eden Park (2019), 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​)

"A spirited page-turner." —Kirkus 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

"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

This information about Eden Undone was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Abbott Kahler Author Biography

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, which was an Edgar Award finalist for best fact crime and a finalist for the Ohioana Book Award. Her next nonfiction book, Then Came the Devil, is forthcoming in 2025. She is also the host of Remus: The Mad Bootleg King, a forthcoming podcast from iHeartRadio about legendary Jazz Age bootlegger George Remus. A native of Philadelphia, she lives in New York City and in Greenport, New York, where she is at work on her next novel.

Link to Abbott Kahler's Website

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