Well at first I got a little lost when the novel switched views. These two men accomplished amazing things (especially Young), but they also introduced the odious practice of polygamy into their faith, a self-serving decision which very nearly resulted in the destruction of that same faith. Even so, the novel as a whole is worth a listen because of how perceptive it is about the problems of polygamy and the questions it raises about the two original prophets of Mormonism, namely Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. And as for the modern fictional narrative, while it begins well, it resolves in a way I found unsatisfactory. Even though the story of Ann Eliza Young is fascinating, it is nevertheless a problem that Ebershoff makes such extensive use of what is after all the writing of someone else. What I found instead was a modern fictional narrative interwoven with a mostly factual historical narrative. I had actually purchased this book expecting two fictional narratives interwoven with each other. And there is the historical strand: the real-life story of Ann Eliza Young, the 19th polygamous wife of Brigham Young, who wrote a notorious memoir and gave lectures that had a great deal to do with Mormonism's eventual decision to discontinue polygamy. There is the modern strand: a lively amateur sleuth mystery about a young man who had once been tossed out of a polygamous community, but who goes back to exonerate his mother, who is falsely accused of murder. This audio version is well-handled by using more than one performer, as there are more than one narrative strands here. Two Mysteries: One Fictional, One Historical Jordan Scott, a young man who was thrown out of his fundamentalist sect years earlier, must reenter the world that cast him aside in order to discover the truth behind his father’s death.Īnd as Ann Eliza’s narrative intertwines with that of Jordan’ s search, listeners are pulled deeper into the mysteries of love and faith.

Soon after Ann Eliza’s story begins, a second exquisite narrative unfolds - a tale of murder involving a polygamist family in present-day Utah. A rich account of a family’s polygamous history is revealed, including how a young woman became a plural wife.

Expelled and an outcast, Ann Eliza embarks on a crusade to end polygamy in the United States. It is 1875, and Ann Eliza Young has recently separated from her powerful husband, Brigham Young, prophet and leader of the Mormon Church. Sweeping and lyrical, spellbinding and unforgettable, David Ebershoff’s The 19th Wife combines epic historical fiction with a modern murder mystery to create a brilliant novel of literary suspense. Faith, I tell them, is a mystery, elusive to many, and never easy to explain.

The 19th wife review