The 19th Wife

I'll admit...I was first drawn to this book by the cover (*gasp!*) and the title.  When I turned it over to read what it was about I was immediately more intrigued.  Having spent three years living in an area with a very high Mormon population, and always having an interest in spirituality and how beliefs shape people's lives, I thought this could be a great read.  As always, I sat down right there in Borders and gave the first few pages a read to see if I thought it was good enough to hold my attention.  Boy, was it!  I haven't been able to put it down (In case you're wondering...I bought it, I'm not still sitting at Borders, that would just be rude :p )

First let me say that this book is a wonderful and unique mix of factual history and and modern day fiction.  The story blends the history of Joseph Smith and the Mormons or the "Firsts" as they are referred to in the book, and more centrally, Brigham Young and his 19th Wife, Ann Eliza.  What is unique about this book is that it flashes back and forth between a modern day murder among a polygamist family in present-day Utah and the lead-up to Ann Eliza Young separating from her prophet husband, Brigham Young.  The book documents Eliza's plight to end polygamy, including actual excerpts from her autobiography "Wife No. 19" published in 1875. 

Among other things, it raises the question of the role of law in ones faith, or vice versa.  It also makes the reader question faith....what we believe...why we believe it...and how we live our lives because of it, in spite of it, or inspired by it.

Futher reading that I hope will be helpful in my quest to understand this history and modern-day news-maker:

Wife No. 19 by Ann Young (non-fiction)
Escape by Carolyn Jessop (non-fiction)
Sister Wife by Shelley Hrdlitschka (young adult fiction)*
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams (young adult fiction) *
Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer (non-fiction)
No Man Knows my History:  The Life of Joseph Smith by Fawn M. Brodie (non-fiction)
Joseph Smith:  Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Bushman (non-fiction)
Banking on Heaven (DVD)*

*I've read/watched and were worth the time!