The 19th Wife
Ever since I was willing to convert for Donny Osmond, the Mormon faith has had a hold on me. Donny never called, so I never converted, but this didn’t hinder my interest in the Latter Day Saints. The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff focuses on the most fascinating (but very short) part of the Mormon church – the polygamy.
The main story is about a young man, Jordan, who returns to a Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints community (the “Firsts”) after reading that his mother has been arrested for shooting her husband, his father. Even as his 19th wife, she claims that she really loves her husband and swears that she didn’t do it. Even though he had been literally thrown onto the street years ago, he belives her and wants to help her. Throughout the story, Jordan temporarily gives up his life to solve this murder mystery.
Ann Eliza Young, coincidentally the 19th Wife of Brigham Young who succeeded Joseph Smith, also tells her story in this novel. Ann caused quite a commotion when she divorced Brigham in the 1890’s. In addition to writing a book about life as a plural wife, she went on a national speaking tour to raise awareness with hopes that Congress would make polygomy illegal.
Alternating between Ann and Jordan’s narrative, we read chapters from many other characters – Ann’s sons, mother, brother, father and scholars from various time periods who are researching Ann. Get the picture? While I admire Mr. Ebershhoff’s talent to write from many points of view, it took me a long time to figure out what was going on. There didn’t seem to be much flow to the alternating stories and I always wondered what was fact and what was fiction.
A very important part of the book is in the back where Mr. Ebershoff explains the fact/fiction issue. I should have read this first and I encourage any future readers to do the same. Despite my confusion, I forged ahead and enjoyed The 19th Wife enough to conduct further research to get my facts straight about the history of the Latter Day Saints.
July 28, 2010 8:36 am 
Subscribe
