Emma: Woman of Faith

by Anita Stansfield

Emma stood alone at the edge of the Mississippi, pondering its lazy flow that was so familiar to her. . . . More than three decades had passed since she'd lost her precious Joseph. She had learned to live without him . . . but nothing had ever felt right without him. . . . "Joseph," she whispered into the breeze as she lovingly fingered the worn gold beads encircling her throat, a gift from Joseph, one of the few tangible remnants of his love for her. In this triumphant tribute, well-loved LDS author Anita Stansfield conveys Emma Smith's greatness of spirit; her undying love for and loyalty to Joseph; her remarkable compassion, courage, and dignity; and her unwavering testimony of the Savior. Joyful and poignant, insightful and moving, intense and reverent, this thoroughly researched fictional narrative paints an intimate portrait of the Lord's "elect lady" through a love story that transcends time and embraces eternity.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Lds Fiction, Lds, Religion, Fiction, Book Club, Romance

209 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Anita Stansfield, the LDS market's #1 best-selling romance novelist, is an imaginative and prolific writer whose romantic stories have captivated her readers.

"With sales approaching a half million, Anita Stansfield has clearly found a niche in this market," said Nicole Martin, Publicist for Covenant Communications. "Her popularity stems from her ability to empathize with and write about the issues that LDS women deal with on a daily basis."

"I always write for women like me. It's through my interaction with other women that I've found there are some personal and emotional struggles that are typical," said Anita Stansfield. "I hope my writing makes women feel better about themselves and shows them these real problems can be solved through gospel principles."

Reviews

[Princess · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was incredibly disappointed by this book. I attended a lecture about Emma Hale Smith wherein I learned so much and had a love in my heart kindled for her. When the ward book club selected this title, I was looking forward to reading it and learning more about this amazing woman.

Unfortunately I was completely let down. Maybe my expectations were just too high. I felt the writing was poor and there were timeline mistakes and word choice errors that should at least have been caught by a good editor. Part of the problem was I had finished an amazingly well written book right before starting this one and the differences in writing were made that much more apparent.

The difficulty in writing a book such as this, wherein so many people already know the basic story, must be incredibly daunting to the author. However, I felt she took too many liberties with Joseph's character, especially toward the end. When I compare the sense of personality I get from her book to the sense I get when reading the scriptures or from reading Joseph's other writings/accounts of his life, I just can't reconcile the two. I understand the author takes certain liberties, but I just felt that this was a bit too much.

Overall, I had hoped that I would learn more about Emma, post-Joseph and there was nothing. I was also disappointed that there wasn't more about how she managed to get through the difficulties associated with polygamy. In addition, I felt the book read incredibly slowly. I had to force myself to keep reading and to finish it.

I will continue to search for other books about Emma and hope they are better.

[Mommywest · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt that Anita Stansfield did a great job in trying to stay true to Emma and her feelings and experiences while also writing a very good story. I felt that I gained more personal insight into the incredible person Emma was, and I admire her great faith in the face of SO much adversity! I don't know how she was able to do all she did while suffering through 11 pregnancies, the loss of six children, her husband's high calling and constantly being gone, mob violence, moving in the dead of winter, and so on.

I was a little disappointed that the book did not really follow Emma's life after Joseph was killed. After visiting the Mansion House in Nauvoo a couple of summers ago, and hearing a little more about Emma's life after the Saints left Nauvoo, and after watching the recent movie, "Emma Smith: My Story," I wanted to know more and understand her decisions better. Emma is a person that has long been portrayed in a very negative way, and I appreciate the work in recent years of great authors and artists, and the Joseph and Emma Hale Smith Historical Society, in trying to help us understand her a little better, and reminding us that we should be careful in judging others when we do not know what they have gone through. (I first started to change my mind when I attended a presentation by Liz Lemon Swindle and Susan Easton Black). Even though this book does not cover Emma's entire life, I still recommend it as a way to learn a lot more about Emma and understand her better, as well as a book that will inspire you in your quest to understand who you are as an "elect lady."

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was pretty disappointed in this book. I was hoping for a book about Emma, her life and her struggles, and her amazing ability to overcome daunting life events. It was sappy sweet, very repetitive and glossed over events (like polygamy) that should have been a huge deal in her life. It felt a little like reading a romance novel written on an 8th grade reading level. Virtually nothing was covered after Joseph's death. Nothing was written about her 2nd husband or leaving the church - very strange that a book about her life stops when she is only 40 and lives to be 75. Not really worth reading.

[Shawn Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book falls prey to Anita Stansfield's typical writing style - a 3rd person narrator who just summarizes what's going on with VERY little dialogue, instead of bringing the reader into the action and letting the scenes actually play out for us. I'm a high school English teacher and this is the very thing I teach my students NOT to do in their writing. Dialogue brings the story to life. It's like Anita Stansfield has been getting away with this for so long with books that were deemed popular sellers that any new editors are afraid to actually call her out on it.

[Sarah Dahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emma Smith is not alive to personally tell us her thoughts and feelings. I thought Anita Stansfield did a great job in describing what Emma could have been feeling and the adversity that she endured. It is a novel, not a biography.

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really respect Emma Smith for all the hardships she endured and still supported Joseph and his divine calling. This book was more romance and less historical information. I admit I skimmed large sections.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved learning about her life.

[Janet Purser · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love it but I didn't.

[Sharyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting insight of the internal emotions of Emma Hale Smith. This book is historical fiction, but it feels like the author is reading from Emma’s diary.

[McKenna Zwingli]

I would love to come back and finish this someday.

[Michelle Llewellyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

At last! An Anita Stansfield book where some actual research has been done in the publication of a story well told. More please?

And here I am, one decade later! (September 2021) Having just re-read this for the second time, I decided to add more to the above review. See, I just finished reading "First: The Life and Faith of Emma Smith" a LDS nonfiction book by Jennifer Reeder which was very good. Very well researched. So, why not pull this copy off my shelf and give it another read which I did.

Not as good the second time through, I decided. Her and Joseph meeting and getting married was good but after that, at times the narrative became a "laundry list" of main events in the rest of Emma's married life to be checked off in order to move the plot forward. The cover is a painting of Emma crossing the frozen Mississippi with her children after being driven out of Missouri, yet this part of Emma's life is just glossed over by the author. The Nauvoo years are especially neglected which is too bad as this is when the story could really get interesting as the controversial issue of polygamy is brought to light. We get two pages of Emma and Joseph discussing this sticky subject together then...time to kill off Joseph, Bye! And that's pretty much the end of the book.

I wonder if Sister Stansfield had access to "First" if her historical fiction story might've been told differently. After all, her very first book "First Love and Forever" is about a widow getting back together with an old flame. Emma DID get remarried, yet the name Bidamon does not appear even once in this novel. Emma was a complicated woman, as Jennifer Reeder's biography makes clear and she was not afraid to dive right into the polygamy subject right off the bat. I would now recommend reading both these books together.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative and tender life of Emma Smith. She was an amazing woman that went through so much and yet stayed steadfast to her fath

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this triumphant tribute, well-loved LDS author Anita Stansfield conveys Emma Smith's greatness of spirit; her undying love for and loyalty to Joseph; her remarkable compassion, courage, and dignity; and her unwavering testimony of the Savior.
through her

Anita Stansfield traces and expands Emma Hale Smith's life with Joseph Smith. It does not delved too deeply into her life before and only briefly mentions her life after his death. It illustrates the love that they shared and the devotion they had for the gospel, the truth, and the sacred role each of them had in the restoration. I must say it was written with "rose colored glasses" and many harsh and difficult periods were glossed over, leaving out many details of Church history. At times I felt it was a bit sappy, but other times I was moved by the relationship and faithfulness of them both. She was a marvelous woman full of compassion, strength and courage and devoted to the Lord and to her husband, Joseph. That alone makes it worth reading.

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't like it much at all. Much of the dialogue and character actions read like a trite, cheesy romance novel/soap opera, and whenever Emma's cornball language ISN'T identical to Joseph's or any of the other cut-and-paste characters (which doesn't happen very often), Emma's personality comes off sounding like a cross between a 5-year old and a puppydog. Very irritating to read. I was also wondering how Stansfield would write Joseph and Emma's relationship dynamic once Joseph's other-wives situation is brought up, which was glossed over in two pages and at least five years late in coming, but again, that wasn't gone over in much detail. I do understand it's historical fiction, so the author can get away with bending some facts, particularly if it makes the book easier to read. I just wasn't impressed with anything I read.

A patron at the library saw what I was reading, however, and said she loved the book. So, it will still most likely check out anyway.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking forward to learning a lot about Emma Smith and the life she lead. She was such an amazing and strong woman -- someone to look up to for sure. I was interested in learning about her life and choices AFTER Joseph was killed. Since this book was about her life, I assumed that it would cover life after his death. Disapointingly, it didn't. It skipped right to her old age and her death. I was very annoyed that it didn't go into her choices to leave the church and why she took a completely different path after Joseph's death. That's the part of her life that I know the most little about, and the part I was most interested in learning about because I wanted to understand Emma. I was also hoping for a little more detail into her entire life. The book just kept skipping further and further ahead and I wanted to know more...

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book clearly had the style that is typical of Anita Stansfield and was interesting enough. However, it seemed to lack the depth I was hoping for from a book about Emma Hale Smith and it seemed to glance over her life too quickly for me. But I also understand that a book that explores her life in any real depth would take volumes that would probably rival "The Work and the Glory" series. There wasn't a whole lot historically that I didn't already know about Emma's life, but I did get a chance to see things from a more personal perspective by reading about her life from a first person point of view. That unique perspective will make this book a good one to read for anyone interested it Emma's life story. All-in-all, it was worth reading.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emma Smith was an amazing woman, and her life has fascinated me for years. Imagine being the woman chosen to be the wife of a prophet of God! Emma endured such heartache, not only as the prophet's wife, but as a woman and a mother. Through it all, though, her faith endured.

This book was good, but I felt like I was reading the screenplay to Emma Smith: My Story, the movie that was recently released in theaters. They both had a very similar feel to them, as well as similar storylines, with Emma relating the story of her life with Joseph to their daughter Julia. I liked the book, but I loved the movie.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was commissioned by both Joseph and Emma's families to be written so I have to hope that much of it is based on truth although without them present, there has to be some information that is assumed such as personal feelings, thoughts, etc. I don't know the material in which this writing was based such as personal journals, first-hand accounts etc.

All those thoughts aside, it was nice to read what might have been Emma's feelings toward her husband who was the Prophet of the restoration. I enjoyed reading about a relationship that was founded on pure love and faith and endured the trials of life.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a book my R.S. book club chose to read and it really wasn't my favorite. Since I already know the story of Joseph and Emma Smith, I wanted some new information or some character development that was sadly lacking. In fairness to the author, I can't imagine how difficult it would be to write about book about Emma Smith! I suspect she glossed over many things because she didn't feel it was appropriate to assume what Emma was thinking, saying, or feeling. While the book didn't achieve the depth I was hoping for, I did enjoy refreshing my knowledge of the trials Emma faced and thinking about what an incredible lady she must have been.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Emma Smith and I loved the movie of Emma. And I believe this is the book where the movie came from.

But...it was a little on the contrived side. I could see Anita piecing her story together with all the stories we've all grown up with about Emma. In between she would build the relationship between her and Joseph-and that was probably the best part of the book. We want the two of them to have each other while everything is going on around them.

Granted there isn't a whole lot of material to work with, but it really just hopped from story to story for me.

I'm thinking about reading Mormon Enigma next. Should I????

[LuAnn · Rating 2 out of 5]

The perhaps all-too familiar story of Joseph Smith, Jr.'s wife, Emma. I had really hoped to gain insight into Emma's character by reading this book, told from her point of view. Unfortunately, only a couple of times did the author come close to sharing the way Emma must have felt about the same events that members of the church have heard chronicled over and over in every book about Emma's husband. There was nothing technically wrong with the book,and overall it was okay to read, but I was disappointed because I thought an author of Anita's stature would be able to bring us more than just a rehashing of the same-old same-old.

[Jodie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really enjoy this book because it was written more like a history book instead of a novel. It took me a very long time to read it. I usually finish reading Anita Stansfiled's books in a day or two. This title took me about 6 months to read. I also have mixed feelings about Emma Smith--seeing how she left the church in the end. This book is titled "Woman of Faith," does anyone else see the irony in that? Yet, I don't think that I could have endured the trials that she went through. That's why I am torn on my feelings about her. The book did help to give a better perspective on the personal relationship between Joseph and Emma though.

[Clair · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was only a so-so book. I didn't really learn anything new as far as history goes and as far as Emma's perspective- well, you get a little blurb here and there from her own words or something that was recorded but it seems like most of it is simply what one would assume the wife of Joseph Smith would be thinking/ feeling.

I'm not sure but is this what the movie "Emma
Smith: My Story" was based on? I liked that show all right, but then again- not really any new information or insights.

I am enjoying another book on Emma which is much more informative- it is Beloved Emma by Lori E. Woodland.

[Claudine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting look at the life of Emma Smith, her background, struggles, and challenges. The dialogue between Joseph and Emma was endearing and gave some insight into what their relationship may have been like. I would have liked the book go more in depth into her story, but something like that would take a much larger book, or volumes of books, but I was especially hoping to hear more about why she stayed in Nauvoo and what happened to her when she remained and all the other saints left.

[Jen Flint · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really disappointed in this book. I love Anita Standfield's books and I have read so many of them and loved every one, so I was expecting this book to be my favorite of hers since I also love anything and everything to do with Emma Smith. But, this book wasn't like a novel at all, but more like the history of Joseph and Emma. The book is accurate and well detailed with the life of Emma and Joseph, but I've read their histories over and over and I was hoping to read this book and have those historical facts brought more to life for me. But, it was pretty boring to read.

[Angee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the love story between Joseph and Emma. Emma is always portrayed so negatively, and I love how Anita Stansfield portrayed her how I have always liked to think of her--an amazing, elect woman who bore more than any of us could ever imagine. I wept as I read about her pregnancies and children and her fear for her husband's life time after time. I smiled at the joy she found in the Gospel. And I loved the ending; it "explained" why she chose the route she did after Joseph died. I view Emma's story completely different now. Anita Stansfield did a fabulous job!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

THis was an amazing book and I learned so much from it. My testimony of the gospel and of Joseph Smith was deepened and helped me to see how life would have been like then. Not to mention the heart strings it pulled when she lost so many babies and in the end her husband. I can only imagine was a marvelous reunion it was when her time on this earth was through.

I felt the spririt so strongly while reading this and it helped remind me how much I truly care for my husband and that I am thankful we will be spending eternity together. This was a powerful read that defiently left me in awe.

[Sarah Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled a little with this book at first. I'm not used to real historical figures being the main charachter in a 'fiction' book. It does have a lot of fact and research but seems to be marketed with other LDS fiction books. Overall though the impression is good and I felt a better understanding for what life must have been like for Emma and Joseph Smith. i couldn't help crying when she lost her babies and it made her trials so much more real to me. It is definitely worth a read if you have any interest in trying to get a better feel for who Emma Smith is.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a huge Anita Stansfield fan. However this book intrigued me. I've read other books about Emma Smith but I thought it might be insightful from a modern, popular LDS fictional writer. It took me a little while to feel the rhythm of the book (probably because I'm not fond of Stansfield's writing), however, about 1/4 of the way into the book, I began to sense the strong personality of Emma and the trials that she was called to bear. This book did strengthen my testimony of Joseph Smith and once again reminded me that Emma Smith was a not only a woman of faith but integrity.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It was such a great love story and also spoke to what life was like being married to a man of God. I connected with Emma's love for her husband and her desire to be a good wife but to also do what God wanted her to do. I have always been a fan of Emma Smith and the trials she endured and this book really solidified my feelings of reverance for her.

This was the first Anita Stansfield book I've read and I enjoyed her style so I will read some of her other books.

Highly recommend this one.