“This exquisite tour de force explores the dark roots of polygamy and its modern-day fruit in a renegade cult.Ebershoff ( The Danish Girl) brilliantly blends a haunting fictional narrative by Ann Eliza Young, the real-life 19th “rebel” wife of Mormon leader Brigham Young, with the equally compelling contemporary narrative of fictional Jordan Scott, a 20-year-old gay man…With the topic of plural marriage and its shattering impact on women and powerless children in today's headlines, this novel is essential reading for anyone seeking understanding of the subject.” 'Rarely has a work of fiction seemed more timely.

Ebershoff not only imparts a valuable lesson on religion, but spins a compelling tale that makes readers question the power of faith and what we believe and why.' - USA Today 'Part history class, part expose, part love story, The 19th Wife is thoroughly addictive. The greatest triumph is the way illuminates the larger landscape of faith.' - The Washington Post Book World a book packed with historical illumination, unforgettable characters and the deepest questions about the tenacity of belief. And as Ann Eliza’s narrative intertwines with that of Jordan’s search, readers are pulled deeper into the mysteries of love, family, and faith. 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. Yet 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 her family’s polygamous history is revealed, including how both she and her mother became plural wives. 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.

The 19th wife by david ebershoff