Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
The book's plot is based on real-life events that occurred in the 1980s and is classified as non-fiction. Because it reads like a novel (and rearranges the sequence of true events in time), it is sometimes referred to as a "non-fiction novel." Although the book's timeline is set to coincide with the entire saga of Jim Williams' arrest and four trials for murder, in reality Berendt did not meet Williams for the first time until 1982 — after the millionaire had already been convicted of murder the first time and released pending appeal. Berendt also did not move to Savannah to collect material for his book until 1985 — after Williams' second conviction for the murder. Williams was a free man and living in Mercer House during Berendt's five years in Savannah. [1] "The only fictional character in the book is the narrator, me, until I catch up with myself midway through the book," Berendt said in 1995. "I felt that was a legitimate license to tak