Product Description

Jordan returns from California to Utah to visit his mother in jail. As a teenager he was expelled from his family and religious community, a secretive Mormon offshoot sect. Now his father has been found shot dead in front of his computer, and one of his many wives - Jordan's mother - is accused of the crime. Over a century earlier, Ann Eliza Young, the nineteenth wife of Brigham Young, Prophet and Leader of the Mormon Church, tells the sensational story of how her own parents were drawn into plural marriage, and how she herself battled for her freedom and escaped her powerful husband, to lead a crusade to end polygamy in the United States. Bold, shocking and gripping, "The 19th Wife" expertly weaves together these two narratives: a page turning literary mystery and an enthralling epic of love and faith.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2853 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 608 pages

Review
A marvellous evocation of pioneer life...But his sympathy is with...women trapped in what the Mormons termed 'celestial marriages'. --Daily Mail

Review
Gripping and beautifully written.

From the Back Cover
'Dishes the dirt on what it's really like being one of many wives. Funny, profound and utterly transporting'
Marie Claire

For the first time in six years, Jordan returns from California to Utah, to visit his mother - in jail. As a young boy he was expelled from his family’s secretive polygamous Mormon sect.Now his father has been found shot dead in front of his computer, and one of his many wives - Jordan's mother - is accused of the crime.

Over a century earlier, Ann Eliza Young, nineteenth wife of Brigham Young, second Prophet of the Mormon Church, tells the sensational story of how she battled for her freedom from her powerful husband, to lead a crusade to end polygamy in the United States.Bold, shocking and gripping, The 19th Wife expertly weaves together these two narratives in an enthralling epic of love, family, murder and faith.

‘Shines light from every angle on the divisive topic of American polygamy in a compelling and timely novel’
Danny Scheinmann, author of Random Acts of Heroic Love

‘A big book, in every sense of the word...it does that thing all good novels do: it entertains us’
Los Angeles Times

‘Engrossing...vivid...packed with historical illumination, unforgettable characters...remarkable’
Washington Post