The 19th Wife

A Novel

By: David Ebershoff

Narrated by: Kimberly Farr, Rebecca Lowman, Arthur Morey

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)

More than multiple wives

When I think Mormon, I think many wives, Utah, and a pageant in Upstate NY, pretty much in that order. This book offered an insight into the Mormon religion and customs that I hadn't heard before and much, much more than my initial thoughts of Mormonism. The book is a little difficult to follow switching from reader to reader with the various research findings, but worth the effort.

Fascinating insights into Mormonism

Would you consider the audio edition of The 19th Wife to be better than the print version?

I didn't read the print version

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Different voices for different perspectivs.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, although it wasn't possible.

Any additional comments?

This book gave fascinating insights into Mormonism and polygenous marriage in the context of absorbing fiction.

Educational and a riveting story at the same time

enjoyed jumping back and forth from historical to present day, fiction and non fiction all wrapped up in one.

Amazing

I loved this book. I learned a lot about Mormons and polygamy reading this. This book contains two parallel stories, one of modern day polygamy and one of the beginnings of polygamy in Utah and how it became illegal. I live in Utah, but am not a native, so I found this absolutely fascinating. I highly recommend it to anyone as it is a riveting story.

Almost couldn't stop when I needed to do things!

I liked all of the voices and the stories woven together! I made the mistake of starting this during law school finals and would take little breaks to listen to bits of it but I almost couldn't stop to go back to work!

Crazy story

I enjoyed this audiobook a lot. I finished it in about three days because I had to keep picking it back up. This book tells a story about a woman accused of a crime. When her son finds out he wants to help her. They've been estranged, but he knows she couldn't have done this.
The book is based on polygamy churches and how this all came to light. Very well written and easy to follow along with.

So good it brainwashed me to read more abt Mormons

Seldom have I been so moved by a book that I have yelled at it out loud, but that is precisely what I found myself doing—on more than one occasion—as I read The 19th Wife. This novel reads much more like nonfiction than fiction, and tells the story of the beginnings of the Mormon church and how polygamy figures prominently in that history. The author does a good job of bringing that history into the present day by juxtaposing the true story of Brigham Young’s 19th wife with the fictional account of a current-day offshoot of Mormonism. This Warren Jeffs-like cult still practices polygamy, brainwashing its adherents into thinking that only through plural marriage can they be assured of a place in heaven.

I knew before I picked it up that this book would not be a flattering portrayal of Mormonism, but I was still unprepared for the completely misogynistic nature of the origins of this belief system. It was fascinating to read the real-life story of Ann Eliza Young and realize everything she had to go through, until she finally spoke to members of Congress and President Grant, resulting in anti-polygamy laws being passed. There were passages in the book, both in the historical section and in the present-day section, that convinced me these women are literally slaves who are completely subjugated to the will of their “prophet/husband.” Those were the sections that made me actually shout out loud, I simply could not hold back my disgust. That the US government still allows polygamous cults to exist today in the name of freedom of religion is unconscionable.

I listened to this as an audio book read by several different actors. I thought they were all quite good, except the man who read the part of the present-day protagonist, Jordan. His voice was simply not very expressive, and when he was reading dialog between two people it was hard tell which person was talking. Still, I would recommend this audio book to anyone, particularly to those interested in the place of women in society.

Intriguing mysterious historical fiction

This book tells two tales - a modern story of polygamy and mystery, and a view into the early days of polygamy as the Morman Church was first founded. The historical story is lightened by the modern one which has more twists of mystery and danger. I found it to be style that worked. There are 4 readers for this book, which also makes it quite interesting. It is long and involved, but if the subject intrigues you, you will be drawn in.

"Big Love" lovers will love this book!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The narration was terrific by using 4 different narrators and the story, actually 2 stories, were fascinating. There were times it went a little slow, but nothing that would make me put it town. I'm forever fascinated as to why women do what they do for men and why they let men degrade and debase them. And I always cheer when some woman wakes up to the situation and does something about it! I'm lucky I wasn't born into a culture that degrades women, I would have never lived past the age of 6!

Originally Planned to Rate 5, But

It’s my fault that I misread the info. I thought the Ann Eliza/LDS portion was actual fact and the murder mystery was woven in. That was an interesting presentation. However when I realized both were fictional I did research on Ann Eliza and found the fictionalized part was VERY much not even close. The author totally created an exotic mysterious sending of Ann Eliza and created awhile life of one of her sons that died in his 20’s. To me, that hurt the attraction. I thought I was getting a great history lesson and great fictional story that could’ve true. Unfortunate.