THE GALAPAGOS AFFAIR

by John Treherne ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 1983

Strange doings, including four deaths (three of which may have been murders), on an island five hundred miles off the coast of Ecuador in the early 1930s. . .with a cast of crackpots. First to arrive on the Galapagos island of Floreana were two Germans: Dr. Friedrick Ritter, a physician who fancied himself a philosopher, and his mistress, Dore Strauch, in whom he recognized ""a fellow pilgrim on the way to final wisdom."" They left their respective spouses (somehow convincing Frau Ritter to sign on as housekeeper for Dore's abandoned spouse) and made their way to misty, volcanic Floreana, an apt setting for their Nietzschean romanticism, where they hoped to establish an ""earthly Eden."" They practiced nudism, tried to cultivate the perfect garden, fought off marauding wild pigs, and shared, it appears, one set of stainless steel dentures. (Friedrich had had his teeth extracted, said Dore, out of ""scientific desire"" to find out whether gums could serve as a substitute.) But their home life was not idyllic; Friedrich was in fact a ""fierce and selfish bully."" Meanwhile the world's press picked up on the ""Adam and Eve of the Galapagos,"" and itinerant millionaire yachtsmen began stopping by. New settlers arrived too: the Wittmers, a solid German family, and a mysterious German woman who called herself ""the Baroness"" and came equipped with two young lovers, Lorenz and Philippson. The Baroness--who favored outlandish getups, brandished a revolver, and received visitors in riding costume with a whip in her hand--had dreams of building on Floreana a hotel for millionaires, to be called Hacienda Paradiso. She was heartily disliked by Friedrich (who knew a rival media event when he saw it), Dore, and the Wittmers--and hated, after she dumped him for Philippson, by young Lorenz, who was kept in virtual slavery and finally ran away to live under the Wittmers' protection. Then one day the Baroness and Philippson disappeared, leaving their household furnishings intact--they'd gone off on an impromptu sailing trip to the South Seas with friends, said the other Floreana folks. Soon after, Lorenz died in a shipwreck, and Friedrich succumbed to ""food poisoning."" Who killed whom, and why? Treherne offers some plausible explainations, plus vivid portraits of the principal players in these ""curious events."" Crisp, absorbing, and great fun.

Pub Date: Oct. 4, 1983

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1983

Categories: NONFICTION