The book is part historical fiction, part “ripped from the headlines” contemporary novel, and alternates back and forth between time periods and the different characters. Now, I know some people don’t like this tactic; I’ve had people say to me that they find it confusing. Personally, I quite enjoy layering a story in this manner, and seeing the parallels and connections between the two. There are actually two 19th wives in this novel: Ann Eliza Young, one of the Mormon prophet Brigham Young’s wives, and the other is a plural wife from a polygamous sect in rural Utah, accused of murdering her husband.
A Woman Scorned
By Lesley
A Life In Books, June 4th, 2009
http://www.alifeinbooks.com/?p=592
I have been reading The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff, so I am now a bit of an expert on polygamy. While The 19th Wife is a pretty sad story - I’m not sure any fundamentalist religious sect is a heap of fun to be part of unless you are top dog.
Of policemen and polygamists
By Miranda Spary
Otago NY Daily Times, 5 Jun 2009
http://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/books/59718/of-policemen-and-polygamists
