Monday, July 28, 2014

The 19th Wife: a Novel / David Evershoff / 514 pages / July Reading Challenge, Historical Fiction

This is a very interesting book about the beginnings of the Mormon religion and comparing it to one of the off-shoots that broke away when the Mormons renounced plural marriage.  Joseph Smith and Brigham Young come to life in all their power and imperfections in these pages.  Two narrators provide a complex look at plural marriage and perfectly complement each other.  The first is Ann Eliza, Brigham Young's 19th wife, who broke away from the religion and campaigned for laws against plural marriage.  The other narrator is Jordan Scott, a modern nineteen-year-old who was excommunicated (read as dumped on the highway alone) at the age of 14 by the "Firsts," a sect still practicing plural marriage.  Jordan revisits his past when his mother is accused of shooting his father and he attempts to find out whether she really did it or not.  With all the true-life characters you'd expect from historical fiction and the twists and turns of a detective novel, this is a fantastic read.

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