The 19th Wife: wrapping up

Thanks for reading David Ebershoff’s The 19th Wife with me! If you’re interested in reading more books like this one, here are a couple of ideas.

If the dual narrative, historical fiction or mystery aspect of The 19th Wife appealed to you, try:

Possession: a romance by A.S. Byatt

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Mathematics of Love by Emma Darwin

Brigham’s Day by John Gates

If you’d like to read more about Mormons and polygamy, try:

Under the Banner of Heaven: a story of violent faith by Jon Krakauer

Escape by Carolyn Jessop

Shattered Dreams: my life as a polygamist’s wife by Irene Spencer

Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall

Effigy: Mormons, polygamy, taxidermy, love by Alissa York

The 19th Wife: on historical fiction

Is there a danger in people reading historical fiction like The 19th Wife and relying on it as fact? What responsibility does a reader have to go look up things on his or her own? How much obligation to the “truth” does a writer have when writing historical fiction, especially when his or her work is so heavily based on a real person who left a real memoir, like Ann Eliza Young did (Wife no. 19)?

Read with Me in June: The 19th Wife

Read with me in June — this month’s book selection is The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff. It’s murder mystery in which Jordan Scott, whose mother kicked him out the polygamist community in which he was raised on the word of the group’s leader, returns after she is accused of the murder of his father; in a parallel narrative, Ann Eliza Young, the 19th wife of early Mormon leader Brigham Young begins an anti-polygamy crusade after her marriage dissolves and she’s expelled from the church.

Click here to reserve your copy of the book.