Summary
In order to clear her brother's debts, Ann Eliza agrees to become the 19th wife of Brigham Young. Young had always shown interest in Ann Eliza, but the feeling was not mutual. After five years, Ann Eliza wants a divorce and alimony. She goes on the lecture circuit campaigning against plural marriage in the Mormon church. The negative publicity creates a nightmare for Young, his church and followers.
In the same novel a modern tragedy is told. Twenty-year-old Jordan Scott is excommunicated from the Firsts, a fundamentalist Mormon cult that practices polygamy. Jordan reads on the Internet that his mother has been arrested for killing his father. He does not believe this is possible and gets involved in clearing her name and solving the mystery.
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Critique
Much in this novel is based on the memoir Ann Eliza Young published in 1875, titled Wife No. 19. The 19th Wife provides a detailed look at the suffering and destitution women and their children experienced in a plural marriage society in the 1800s and today. Recommend.
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