Wife No 19

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, readers are pulled deeper into the mysteries of love and faith. Praise for The 19th Wife “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)

A campaigner for women's rights This is a remarkable and controversial book by any standards. The verdict is still out on whether its author Ann Eliza Young (formerly Webb) presented her case with complete impartiality, but certainly its contents are sufficiently detailed to reveal shocking and extraordinary details of her experiences during her time as a pluralist wife of Brigham Young of the Latter-Day Saints. A child of Mormon parents, Ann entered into her marriage with Young when he was 67 years old and she was 24, a divorcee and the mother of two children. Her writings on her experiences of the Mormon lifestyle in Utah make gripping reading and her book is filled with accounts of privation, cruelty and violence. She filed for divorce from Brigham Young in 1873 and went on to become an outspoken advocate for the rights of women in 19th century America and an ardent and campaigning opponent of polygamous marriage. This book is her account of her life as one of Young's wives and on its original publication propelled Ann into the public arena and became a best seller of its day. It still makes compelling reading. Available in softcover and hardcover for collectors.

Rebecca Musser grew up in fear, concealing her family's polygamous lifestyle from the "dangerous" outside world. Covered head-to-toe in strict, modest clothing, she received a rigorous education at Alta Academy, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' school headed by Warren Jeffs. Always seeking to be an obedient Priesthood girl, in her teens she became the nineteenth wife of her people's prophet: 85-year-old Rulon Jeffs, Warren's father. Finally sickened by the abuse she suffered and saw around her, she pulled off a daring escape and sought to build a new life and family. The church, however, had a way of pulling her back in-and by 2007, Rebecca had no choice but to take the witness stand against the new prophet of the FLDS in order to protect her little sisters and other young girls from being forced to marry at shockingly young ages. The following year, Rebecca and the rest of the world watched as a team of Texas Rangers raided the Yearning for Zion Ranch, a stronghold of the FLDS. Rebecca's subsequent testimony would reveal the horrific secrets taking place behind closed doors of the temple, sending their leaders to prison for years, and Warren Jeffs for life. THE WITNESS WORE RED is a gripping account of one woman's struggle to escape the perverse embrace of religious fanaticism and sexual slavery, and a courageous story of hope and transformation.

The big passionate novel of a woman daring to live and love freely—no matter what the price. She was forced to choose between one man's love and her own pride as a woman. Brigham married one woman too many when he took Ann Eliza Webb as his twenty-seventh wife. He was the leader of the polygamous Mormon faith, as powerful in the Utah Territory as the President of the United States. She was a great beauty with a quiet manner—and an iron will. For four years, Eliza lived in Brigham Young's harem as his 27th wife. Then, one summer morning, she walked out, deserting her husband and suing him for divorce...

Wife No. 19 is the story of one of Brigham Young's 55 wives, and her experiences with polygamy and the Mormon Church. Ann Eliza Young wrote her autobiography in order to inform the rest of the United States, so disengaged with the goings-on in Utah, the bondage Mormonism and polygamy held on women. She didn't publish the book until 1876, after Brigham Young's death, because he so opposed her work and testimony against his church, and because their divorce had been so public and volatile.Ann Eliza Young, born in 1844, was the 19th wife of Brigham Young, well-known leader of the early Mormon Church and husband to 55 women. After rebelling from Mormon teachings, rejecting the idea that God intends men to have plural marriages, and divorcing her husband, Ann Eliza toured the country, speaking, writing, and campaigning to end polygamy in the United States. Her eventual testimony before Congress in 1875 helped secure the Poland Act, which enabled the Federal government to end polygamy in Utah. Ann Eliza was married three times and had two children, both from her first marriage. She continued to fight for women's rights until her death.

When the imperious Alston, Marquis of Falcon cynically announces that he is interested in marrying his daughter in order to gain a Royal appointment, the Earl of Warnborough is thoroughly pleased.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ There would be many benefits to being part of his far richer neighbourÕs family and estates! But the beautiful Mirabel is already betrothed and so is Deirdre, albeit secretly, which leaves only Elmina, the youngest and the Cinderella of the Warne familyÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ Nevertheless they are all shocked when she shyly says that she will be happy to marry the dashing Marquis.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ But not as stunned as her new husband when she repels his wedding night advances with an expert Karate move!ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ Self-educated and schooled in the martial and equine arts, Elmina blossoms inwardly and outwardly with an unusual allure of her own.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ And she prays that her handsome new husband will come to love her for herself. But, when she is kidnapped by murderous horse thieves, it seems that she will die without knowing the love she yearns for ÐÊ

In his most beloved and extraordinary book, Dr. Sacks recounts the case histories of patients inhabiting the compelling world of neurological disorders. Featuring a preface never before included. Oliver Sacks's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat tells the stories of individuals afflicted with perceptual and intellectual disorders: patients who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people and common objects; whose limbs seem alien to them; who lack some skills yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents. In Dr. Sacks's splendid and sympathetic telling, his patients are deeply human, and his tales are studies of struggles against incredible adversity. A great healer, Sacks never loses sight of medicine's ultimate responsibility: "the suffering, afflicted, fighting human subject."