Phyllis Karas

Phyllis Karas will discuss her new book, “Curse of the Blumenthals,” the history of one close-knit New England Jewish-American family and their dark relationship with alcohol. The book follows the Blumenthal clan over a ninety-year period, from bootlegging arrests in 1920’s Providence, a drunk driver killing six members of their family in 1935, to the shocking and headline-grabbing 1954 murder of a Boston seamstress committed by teenager Ronnie Blumenthal. Though Blumenthal confessed and spent thirteen years in prison, to this day the family isn’t sure if Ronnie—or another family member—was the killer.

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Publishers Weekly called “Curse of the Blumenthals” “a bruising portrait of generational trauma.” Karas, a Blumenthal cousin, continues the story beyond her cousin Ronnie’s release from prison—seemingly reformed—to his descent into alcoholism, surrounded by his mobbed-up prison friends. When Ronnie dies in 2012, not one family member will contribute to his funeral expenses, and with his burial in an unmarked pauper’s grave, the curse of the Blumenthals is buried with him.

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Karas will be joined in a discussion with her literary agent and former editor, Doug Grad, in a wide-ranging discussion from her deep dive into stories that were seemingly already known, to uncovering family secrets that changed the narrative, and the impact it has had on her and her extended Blumenthal relatives. “Curse of the Blumenthals” was six years in the making, from the first email and chapters sent to Grad at the very beginning of the pandemic, until its publication. They both realized that all families have secrets, and that sometimes it’s better to demystify them than to hide them in darkness.

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Registration is required and will open May 15th.  Refreshments will be served.

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