The 19th Wife: A Novel by David Ebersoff

This is one of those books I picked up at a used book store that looked somewhat interesting. Its a book that tells two parallel stories, which if done well, can make the book all that much more interesting. First, it follows the story of a woman who was part of Brigham Young's harem in the 1800's. It also has a story of a guy who is attempting to free his mother of a crime he feels she did not commit-that of murdering her husband. The plot thickens here because his mother was a part of a sect of present day Mormons who condone extensive polygamy. The story if told through faux documents that record the early day of Mormonism. I really liked this book more because of the story of how women (and others) can be dominated by another race or gender, not only in the Mormon community but in society as a whole. It does a good job in telling the story of the Mormon culture and how an intelligent, thoughtful person becomes part of a culture that seems to be the outside as bizarre.