The Wretched and Undone - by J E Weiner

Book Synopsis

A searing Southern Gothic saga unfolds in the Texas Hill Country, where history's silenced voices rise amidst an astonishing tale.

On the eve of the Civil War, Polish immigrants Marcin and Agnieszka Anderwald arrive in Bandera, Texas, seeking a fresh start in a new land of fertile soil and freedom. But their dreams quickly become nightmares when Marcin provokes a sinister specter hell-bent on revenge. A battle ensues for the hearts, minds, and souls of the Anderwalds and their extended family of immigrant outcasts, Arab camel wranglers, wounded warriors, and a songstress on the verge of madness. As the generations unfold, each must confront its darkest fears. Can faith, love, and sacrifice overcome unrelenting evil, or will the Anderwalds remain forever wretched and undone?

The Wretched and Undone is a sweeping saga set in the heart of the Texas Hill Country and inspired by real people and actual events. Heralded as "a genre-bending thrill ride through Old Texas," with "characters so well-crafted they crawl off the page," the novel was named a Killer Nashville Top Pick for 2024 and a Claymore Award Finalist for Best Southern Gothic.

Review Quotes

"A rattlesnake falls from the church rafters, and from there, J. E. Weiner unwinds a scorching Southern gothic tale across the Texas Hill Country in The Wretched and Undone. Her generation-by-generation saga of the Anderwald family across the tumult of the late nineteenth century is told with true authenticity of voice and place. Her characters are so well crafted they crawl off the page. The novel's dark edges are absolutely gripping. A finer piece of historical fiction I cannot recall."

-Adam Van Winkle, editor-in-chief at Cowboy Jamboree Press and author of Dylan Quick is a Dairy Queen Don Quixote

"J. E. Weiner has written a compelling, slow-burning horror story of a cursed family of Polish immigrants to the Texas Hill Country, haunted across the generations. The author takes her time, slowly building the suspense with an Old Testament sense of inevitable damnation while masterfully pulling from the rich and violent history of Texas and its immigrant settlers, fleeing the conflicts of Europe and drawn by the false promise of a new land at the dawn of the Civil War."

-Jim Nesbitt, author of the award-winning Ed Earl Burch hard-boiled Texas crime thrillers.

"A fabulous read. J. E. Weiner writes in the finest traditions of Southern Gothic horror, exposing the sharp strata of class behind the genteel veneer. Somewhere between the gentry and the hard-scrabble and destitute, lie the outsider and outcast pitted in perpetual struggle."

- WB Henley, author of Inescapable, A Novel

"A genre bending thrill ride through Old Texas. Once in a while a book catches you off guard with its depth, innovation, and storytelling. This is that book."

- CJ Howell, author of The Salt Cutter

"J. E.Weiner has composed an absolutely marvelous debut novel in THE WRETCHED AND UNDONE, written with a confident, sure-handed elegance, evocative prose, and a particularly well-tuned ear for dialogue. Rich with sense-of-place and time, the sights, sounds and smells of the 1860s come wonderfully alive in this story of the human spirit, both temporal and other-worldly, that weaves corporeal and metaphysical narrative threads with a deft and clever hand. I am reluctant to reveal too much about the plot other than to say it is one of the most enjoyable slow-burn suspense thrillers I have read in quite some time. I highly recommend this book."

- Baron Birtcher, Bestselling and Award Winning author of Knife River and Reckoning