Curse of Riches

When journalist and author of The Lost Tribe of Coney Island Claire Prentice set eyes on a story about a millionaire dog one day, she never could have predicted the rabbit hole it would lead her down. After six years and countless hours spent combing through letters, diaries, telegrams, and legal testimony, Prentice has produced the definitive story of the Wendels, New York City's richest, most elusive real estate family.

Curse of Riches offers a fascinating account of the "weird Wendels", as they were dubbed by the media, and follows the lives of the seven siblings who took the Wendel name with them to their graves. There is Rebecca Wendel, the haughty elder sister who presumes the role of matriarch; Georgiana Wendel, the fiery, strong-willed feminist who eschews tradition and embraces modernity; poor, sickly Augusta Wendel, who spends most of her life in an insane asylum; John G. Wendel, the only male heir and family patriarch who keeps a firm grip over his sisters' financial and romantic lives while he carries on an illicit affair with Martha Schroeder, a former Wendel servant; and Ella Wendel, the youngest Wendel, whose cherished pet dog, Tobey, makes all the major newspapers upon her death.

Rooted inside the once grand family mansion at 442 Fifth Avenue, the Wendels are by turns loving and supportive, cruel and vindictive. Ultimately, the siblings become stuck, trapped by their money, their secrets, and by each other. Only one of them ever marries--and the vestiges they leave behind are filled with secret affairs, lawsuits, lunacy hearings, and at least one illegitimate child. Brought to life with vivid and imaginative sound design, this Audible Original steeps listeners deep inside the bizarre world of the Wendels, the wealthiest, most eccentric family you've never heard of.