Books › Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
First published 1999 · 562 pages
A humid, gossipy stroll through a Southern city dripping with Spanish moss, eccentric characters, and dark secrets.
What it feels like
Reading this feels like sitting on a shaded veranda with a stiff drink, listening to the town's most charming gossip spin a wildly improbable but entirely true yarn. The pacing is deliberately leisurely, inviting you to soak in the humid, Spanish-moss-draped atmosphere of Savannah before the central crime even takes center stage. It is a masterclass in mood, blending wry, observant journalism with the lush, eccentric textures of a Southern Gothic novel. The prose is elegant and deeply character-driven, capturing a gallery of unforgettable locals with affectionate but sharp-eyed precision. It delights readers who prefer their true crime to be less about police procedurals and more about the strange, captivating, and sometimes sinister quirks of human nature hiding behind polite society.
- Mood
- Southern gothic
- humid
- eccentric
- atmospheric
- Tone
- wry
- observant
- gossipy
- affectionate
- Pace
- leisurely
- Themes
- facades of high society · blurring of truth and myth · hidden lives · eccentricity as armor · justice vs. social standing
- The writing
- Elegant, sharply observant, and novelistic, with a knack for capturing distinct voices and lush settings.
- The arc
- Begins as an amused, voyeuristic stroll through a quirky city and deepens into a darker, more complex meditation on morality and consequence.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love immersive, character-driven nonfiction, Southern Gothic atmosphere, and true crime that reads like a literary novel.
Content notes
- murder
- gun violence
- homophobia
- racism
About the book
Read John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil in Large Print. All Random House Large Print editions are published in a 16-point typefaceShots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty,early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. John Berendt's sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case.It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman's Card Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the "soul of pampered self-absorption"; the uproariously funny black drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young blacks dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story is a sublime and seductive reading experience. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, this enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city is certain to become a modern classic.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Description from Open Library.
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