The Wettest County in the World

The Wettest County in the World: A Novel Based on a True Story
AuthorMatt Bondurant
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistorical novel, Crime novel
PublisherScribner
Publication date
October 14, 2008
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages320 pp (hardback edition)
ISBN1-4165-6139-0 (hardback edition)

The Wettest County in the World is a 2008 historical novel by Matt Bondurant, an American writer who features his grandfather Jack and grand-uncles Forrest and Howard as the main characters in the novel.

The book tells of the trio during the Depression and Prohibition in rural Virginia, who made a living bootlegging moonshine. The novel is told from both the perspectives of the three Bondurant brothers, mainly focusing on the youngest, Jack, and of the writer Sherwood Anderson, who described Franklin County in that period as the "wettest county in the world" while working there as a journalist during Prohibition.[1] The film Lawless (2012), directed by John Hillcoat, is based on the book with a screenplay by Nick Cave.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference LJ was invoked but never defined (see the help page).