In the 1920s, the Osage Nation in North-East Oklahoma was among the richest people in the United States, thanks to the oil found on their land. But its members were dying under mysterious circumstances. During this Reign of Terror, Mollie Burkhart’s family was targeted, and she lost her sisters and mother. Who was behind these crimes?
Quote
“To believe that the Osages survived intact from their ordeal is a delusion of the mind.”
Interesting Facts
David Grann first learned of the Osage murders from John Fox, an FBI historian in Washington DC. He decided to visit the Osage Museum in Oklahoma to learn more about the case, thinking he would write an article about it.1
It took the author 5 years to write the book. While doing research, he met with a lot of Osages, and most of them had relatives who had suspiciously died during that time. They would give him a picture of the deceased, and David Grann would put them on a wall in his office. At the end of writing the book, the wall was covered with photographs.1
David Grann’s mother, Phyllis, was the CEO of a major publishing company, Penguin Putnam. She used to tell him: “Whatever you do, don’t become a writer”, as writers usually had difficult lives.1
Martin Scorsese made a movie out of Killers of the Flower Moon, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone andJesse Plemons. The director and the actors consulted David Grann to be as authentic as possible. The production also involved Osage members, as consultants, but also as actors.2
If you’d like to know more about David Grann’s book, check out his website.
Cécile Sune was born in Lyon, France, and her obsession with books started when she was 14. Her grandparents had lent her Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, and she spent part of the summer indoors reading. Needless to say, her tan didn't really improve that year! It was also around that time that Cécile fell in love with the English language. Several years later, in 1999, Cécile moved to Toronto, Canada, with her cat and 5 suitcases. Her love of reading greatly increased when she discovered that English books were much cheaper than French novels. In 2013, she decided to start a blog to share her passion. Cécile now lives in Ottawa, Canada, with her husband and their daughter, and works as a freelance translator (CS Revision).
Amanda Lindhout, a Canadian freelance journalist, and Nigel Brennan, an Australian photographer, traveled to Somalia in the summer of 2008 to report on the war raging in this country. What should have been a one-week short trip turned into a 15-month nightmare when Amanda and Nigel were kidnapped by a group of rebels. This book tells Amanda’s harrowing and heartbreaking story. Deeply moving, it is very well written and manages…
When she was three years old, Alison Neuman was diagnosed with dermatomyositis, a rare muscle disease that also affects her immune system. However, she did not know the name of her debilitating illness until much later. She spent a lot of time in hospitals and at doctor’s appointments with her mother by her side. As she was growing up, the disease progressed, and Alison ended up needing a wheelchair. It didn’t…
Introduction On Tuesday 8 October 2024, I went to Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa for the book launch of Invisible Prisons by Lisa Moore and Jack Whalen, the real-life story of Jack who suffered abuse at a government-run reform school for boys in Newfoundland in the 1970s. Quote “Stories get buried because of the trauma of bearing witness. Of digging them up. Turning them over in the light. The…