The 19th Wife

A Novel

By: David Ebershoff

Narrated by: Kimberly Farr, Rebecca Lowman, Arthur Morey

Length: 19 hrs

Publisher's summary

Faith, I tell them, is a mystery, elusive to many, and never easy to explain.

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.

It is 1875, and Ann Eliza Young has recently separated from her powerful husband, Brigham Young, prophet and leader of the Mormon Church. Expelled and an outcast, Ann Eliza embarks on a crusade to end polygamy in the United States. A rich account of a family’s polygamous history is revealed, including how a young woman became a plural wife.

Soon after Ann Eliza’s story begins, a second exquisite narrative unfolds - a tale of murder involving a polygamist family in present-day Utah. 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.

And as Ann Eliza’s narrative intertwines with that of Jordan’ s search, listeners are pulled deeper into the mysteries of love and faith.

©2008 David Ebershoff (P)2008 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

“This exquisite tour de force explores the dark roots of polygamy and its modern-day fruit in a renegade cult...Ebershoff 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.” (Publishers Weekly - starred review)

eye opening

This was on my wish list for years because I really had no interest in polygamy and Mormonism, no matter how well written, and could always find something else on which to spend my credits. I am amazed at how fascinating I found this book, as I have a strong aversion to anything dealing with religion and to any sort of proselytizing. This was engaging and thought-provoking. There are two concurrent stories which deal with polygamy among the early Mormons and with a current day sect still practicing polygamy. It objectively gives a history of polygamy and why it was abolished, particularly its effects on the children involved.
Although it is a novel, one storyline reads as factual and the other as fiction. I highly recommend it.

An accessible peek into polygamy, past and present

This was a great account of polygamy, past and present. The author expertly interwove a murder mystery occurring within a polygamous sect of Mormonism with memoirs and documents "written by" historical figures of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Reader note: while they sound legit, these are *all* fictional, but heavily based in research/fact.

I knew very little about Mormonism and the LDS community before reading this book. By enticing the reader by weaving two characters, stories, and communities together, Mr. Ebershoff successfully gave me a history of the church and explained the spiritual/political/social rise, impact, and fall of polygamy within its confines. It was interesting, although the "murder mystery" part lacked drama or suspense, and, being the only entirely fictional part of the story, felt a little forced and left me disinterested.

I have to say, I wish I had read (with eyes) this book. The narrators were unoffensive, but their constantly swapping chapters was distracting at best, especially when the chapter titles were announced by someone other than the speaker; therefore, it would always take me a few sentences to figure out if I was past/present/scholarly, etc. I imagine font changes would have eliminated this confusion in written text.

Overall, if this is a culture you are interested in, give it a read! It's accessible, light, and thorough!

Two Mysteries: One Fictional, One Historical

This audio version is well-handled by using more than one performer, as there are more than one narrative strands here. 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. 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. I had actually purchased this book expecting two fictional narratives interwoven with each other. What I found instead was a modern fictional narrative interwoven with a mostly factual historical narrative. 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. And as for the modern fictional narrative, while it begins well, it resolves in a way I found unsatisfactory. 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. 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.

It will change your views on polygamy for ever!

this was a really well written book. It masterly combines historical facts with modern story telling. A great audio book with all the different voices but a little complex at times. Comes together beautifully at the end!! careful if you want to listen around others...it contains hardh topic and language.

Informative

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

For many people the "mystery" that surrounds Mormonism is intriguing. The author answers many questions about the religion while presenting historical facts to the reader. While the narrative switchesfrom the time of Brigham Young and his wives to a present day polygamist's compound, the listener can confortably follow the two engrossing story lines.

Interesting

Interesting historical narrative but did not like the structure of a parallel contemporary story.

Had difficulty with the strong language.

Addiction Guaranteed!!!

As a current addict fourth timer. love it even more! Get hooked, be mesmerised! Now

Coudn't "put it down"

This is a book I will listen to more than once. David Ebershoff put the accounts together like pieces of a puzzle revealing the total picture! It was just amazing!

A little long winded

Would you try another book from David Ebershoff and/or the narrators?

Yes

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

It could have been shorter. Especially the part of the 19th wife; it got very redundant.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

Great voices which made the characters come to life.

Did The 19th Wife inspire you to do anything?

Not become a Mormon, that's for sure! It made me interested in reading non-fiction about Brigham Young. He seems like an amazing person.

Very interesting read

Obviously a lot of careful research and detail went into the writing of this novel . A few times the historical text was a bit hard to follow within the context of the novel. It is like two books mixed together. The historical text provides such an interesting lenses for the contemporary text.