The Wretched and Undone

A searing Southern Gothic ghost story unfolds in a blistering “love letter” to Texas Hill Country

This captivating saga blends real historical events with fiction as Weiner draws from her lived experiences with the supernatural in the Texas Hill Country. “The Wretched and Undone” offers a fresh take on Southern Gothic with a unique and genre-bending dash of Texas Noir and the classic Western – genres traditionally dominated by male authors – lifting voices silenced, and lessons still not learned.

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 faith, 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 faces its own harrowing ordeal against unrelenting evil. Will the Anderwalds break free or remain forever wretched and undone?

Book available for purchase at the Museum