Wilton Historical Society Hosts Book talk with New York Times Bestselling author Karen Abbott on Thursday, October 28

Book talk with New York Times Bestselling author Karen Abbott on Thursday, October 28 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm

Combining deep historical research with novelistic flair, “The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz-Age America “  is the unforgettable, stranger-than-fiction story of a rags-to-riches entrepreneur (George Remus) and a long-forgotten heroine (Mabel Walker Willebrandt), of the excesses and absurdities of the Jazz Age, and of the infinite human capacity to deceive.  Written by Karen Abbott, it is an epic true crime story of the most successful bootlegger in American history and a murder that shocked the nation, from the author of “Sin in the Second City” and “Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy”. 

Ms. Abbott will give a book talk and discussion for the Wilton Historical Society’s  Booked for Lunch series on Thursday, October 28 from 12:30 – 1:30 on Zoom.

Says The Wall Street Journal  “An exhaustively researched, hugely entertaining work of popular history that . . . exhumes a colorful crew of once-celebrated characters and restores them to full-blooded life. . . . [Abbott’s] métier is narrative nonfiction and-as this vibrant, enormously readable book makes clear – she is one of the masters of the art.”

In the early days of Prohibition, long before Al Capone became a household name, a German immigrant named George Remus quits practicing law and starts trafficking whiskey. Within two years he’s a multi-millionaire. The press calls him “King of the Bootleggers,” writing breathless stories about the Gatsby-esque events he and his glamorous second wife, Imogene, host at their Cincinnati mansion, with party favors ranging from diamond jewelry for the men to brand-new cars for the women. By the summer of 1921, Remus owns 35 percent of all the liquor in the United States.

Pioneering prosecutor Mabel Walker Willebrandt is determined to bring him down. Willebrandt’s bosses at the Justice Department hired her right out of law school, assuming she’d pose no real threat to the cozy relationship they maintain with Remus. Eager to prove them wrong, she dispatches her best investigator, Franklin Dodge, to look into his empire. It’s a decision with deadly consequences. With the fledgling FBI on the case, Remus is quickly imprisoned for violating the Volstead Act. Her husband behind bars, Imogene begins an affair with Dodge. Together, they plot to ruin Remus, sparking a bitter feud that soon reaches the highest levels of government–and that can only end in murder.

“The Ghosts of Eden Park” was an instant New York Times bestseller, an Edgar Award finalist for best fact crime, an Indie Next pick, an Amazon best book of 2019, and a Smithsonian Magazine top ten history book of 2019!

About the Author:

Karen Abbott is the New York Times bestselling author of “Sin in the Second City”, “American Rose”, and “Liar Temptress Soldier Spy”, named one of the best books of the year by Library Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, and Amazon. She has written for newyorker.com, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, and other publications, and has appeared on the History Channel, CBS Sunday Morning, AMC’s “Making of the Mob,” the Travel Channel’s “Monumental Mysteries,” and the Discovery Channel.

Suggested contribution $10.00

Registration essential.  Register by email: info@wiltonhistorical.org

After you register, you will receive a confirmation, Zoom session ID Code, and instructions about how to submit questions.