Red Water

by Judith Freeman

In 1857, at a place called Mountain Meadows in southern Utah, a band of Mormons and Indians massacred 120 emigrants. Twenty years later, the slaughter was blamed on one man named John D. Lee, previously a member of Brigham Young’s inner circle. Red Water imagines Lee’s extraordinary frontier life through the eyes of three of his nineteen wives. Emma is a vigorous and capable Englishwoman who loves her husband unconditionally. Ann, a bride at thirteen years old, is an independent adventurer. Rachel is exceedingly devout and married Lee to be with her sister, his first wife. These spirited women describe their struggle to survive Utah’s punishing landscape and the poisonous rivalries within their polygamous family, led by a magnetic, industrious, and considerate husband, who was also unafraid of using his faith to justify desire and ambition.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Book Club, Womens, Religion, American

336 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2001

Reviews

[Christine Boyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had never heard of this author or this book - just a random choice for me this time. It has a low GR rating (3.6) as do her other 4 novels and 2 nonfiction books. Looks like she hasn't been able to really "take off" in her literary career. I've rated this low myself, but there were some good parts.

First, I'll say that though I didn't care for it, it was better than that Secret Life of Bees mess! Yet that one has all kinds of high ratings and accolades and this has barely been seen. Marketing? Good editor? Subject matter - Mormon? It's interesting why some books make it and other don't.

Anyway, the strength in this book comes from her research about the infamous Mormon, John D. Lee, and his involvement in a massacre in 1857. Told from the perspective of 3 of his 19 wives. Great premise! And Freeman did her best to craft something interesting from it. Unfortunately, something about it just didn't work. I was very bored for the majority of the book. Silly on the "no quotation marks" strategy, and the three different perspectives felt disjointed. Also, back to my question about "why" a book works or doesn't - Freeman goes on and on in the land and sky descriptions. I read someone say, "oh like the brilliant Willa Cather". Oh, no, no, no. Be careful. Yes, they both wrote scenery. No, they are NOTHING alike.

I was going to say maybe Mormons might like it. However, I looked at some of the reviews, and some of the low ratings came from Mormons who thought Freeman was painting them in a bad light! Ha! I'm not Mormon, but I actually thought Freeman was pretty balanced and fair in the whole thing. I do notice she has written a memoir about getting out of the religion, so maybe she does have that bent? Who knows. Again, wasn't awful, just a good try at trying to write a novel, but my to-read stack is too high for good trys.

[Libbie Hawker (L.M. Ironside) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two stars for the majority of the book. Four stars for the middle section. And a lot of confusion as to why an author would make such a choice in combining three disparate writing styles into a single novel.

Red Water examines, through fiction, the life and death of John D. Lee, the scapegoat who was executed for the infamous Mountain Meadow(s) Massacre in Utah, one of the darkest stains on the history of the Mormon Church. This examination is accomplished through the perspectives of three of his many wives.

The first part of the book is disproportionately large -- fully half the novel is devoted to the perspective of Emma, and English immigrant who becomes Lee's eighteenth wife. Or seventh, depending on how you count it. Emma is willful and smart, independent and witty. She struggles to find her place among a polygamist family, at first eagerly marrying Lee because of his considerable charisma, then floundering a bit as she tries to come to terms with the full implications of "living the Principle," as the early Mormons called the practice of polygamy. She would make a delightful and fascinating point-of-view character were it not for the incredibly dry, all-tell, nondescriptive writing in her voice. Emma is not writing a journal, yet her narration has the feel of a journal, with long stretches of nothing happening other than Emma listing off dates and the minutiae of things that happened. Well-written historical fiction has a lot of information about the details of everyday life in a past time and place, but well-written historical fiction is also entertaining and engrossing. Emma's narration was seldom engaging. When it was, it was due to the events happening and not Emma's narrative voice, which could have enhanced the action of the story and made it far more memorable.

The final portion of the book, told from the point of view of Rachel in the style of a journal spanning the year following Lee's execution, was so boring I almost gave up the book unfinished. Instead, after ascertaining that I could expect no improvement in the style and that I would indeed have to slog through a long litany of weather reports and detail-less lists of typical arid farming chores without any attempt to bring me into the setting or into the character's heart, I flipped through the last part of the book quickly, skimming for content. Even the scene where Rachel cuts off her friend's gangrenous foot left me not caring, it was described so dully. Yes, pioneer journals were often written in such a style, but this is fiction. More imagination and more regard for the reader's desire for entertainment are required.

Contrast these two difficult parts (one, again, fully half of this long novel) with the middle portion, told from the point of view of Ann, Lee's youngest wife, a cross-dressing, possibly bisexual, horse-wrangling, smart-mouthed, strong-willed girl who wants no children and who entered into a polygamist marriage as the first in a long string of adventures she intends to have. (In truth she did it for another reason, one that marks her as a shrewd and caring person, even at a very young age, and further develops her character.) Ann's narrative voice is in the third person and the writing craft displayed in this part of the book is rapturously gorgeous. Freeman spared nothing here in making the harsh, strange landscape of Utah spring to life. Other reviewers have called Ann's chapters dull. I, however, can never get enough of watching a good writer illustrate the stark, disturbingly vibrant land and cultures of Deseret, the place where I, more or less, am from, and the place where my ancestors carved out lives for themselves. Utah may be the butt of jokes in contemporary American society, but spend some time in its wilderness areas and you will have a different impression of it. It is a place that can weigh you down with equal parts beauty and despair; it is an endless place of harshness and bright color. It's like nowhere else in the world, and experiencing it through Ann's perspective was refreshing and very enjoyable. Why Freeman couldn't inject a little more of that into the other two parts of the novel is beyond me.

All in all, it's a decent book. The events at Mountain Meadow were not well explained in this novel, so readers who are not familiar with the history of the event may be confused as to what the hell everybody keeps referencing. The massacre is only lightly touched on, which is appropriate for a novel that seeks to understand how such a tragedy can continue to influence a region (and a family) many years after the fact, but might leave unfamiliar readers wondering what the big deal was.

[Lia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty interesting! It took me back to my Mormon days, even though it showed some major differences between the church we know now, and the church in the early days. Utah Mormons smoking and drinking! Eternal Temple marriages dissolved with a Writ of Releasement anytime anybody wanted out so they could marry someone else! Early communism! Human trafficking (they bought Indian children from other Indians)! Wow... it was interesting, even though I already know that the church changes with the times, but claims to be eternal established truth, and old doctrines are forgotten by the current members.

One thing that hasn't changed is believing the Second Coming is always right around the corner, "within our lifetime!" Brigham Young was even telling everyone it would be here by 1890.

The personal tales were rather engaging, even Rachel's, though her personality wasn't very likable, poor bitter old fanatical thing. And I enjoyed the setting being partly familiar, except for the names of settlements that I wasn't familiar with. But this was very well researched, and I got a broader sense of the history of Utah and my polygamous Mormon ancestors (some of whom lived at/near Mountain Meadows and attended Lee's execution).

[Callie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Judith Freeman's prose reminds me of Cormac Mccarthy, maybe it's the way she does dialogue. Now that's high praise. There's no one alive today who writes better than he does, in my estimation. I do think her writing has a gravity and a power that is rare. The subeject matter of the novel, (John D Lee's role in the Moutain Meadows Massacre) is also fascinating. I did love the way Freeman does justice to the tangled complexity of the event. I also appreciated that she chose to tell the story through the point of view of three of his wives. I admire her ability to inhabit the voice of each woman so well that she does make you feel they are real and not just characters she has created. Emma was the strongest part of the novel, for me, I think because Emma is experiencing the key events as they happen and she goes into great detail about her relationship with Lee. The other two wives are remembering the past. It's a great idea to tell the story from all three points of view because it underlines how difficult it is to sift fact from fiction. We realize that if three women can see the same man so differently, and that their opinions of him (and the events of that day) change over time, well then it's almost impossible to pin him down and understand him in any kind of simplistic way. He was an enigma even to those closest to him.

Here is a quote that struck me:

"She imagined that in this world there were sins so great they could never be forgottten nor forgiven, and she wondered if these were the same sins men pondered over and for which they sent forth their punishments or if these evident evils were not in fact the lesser crimes and that what lay in the hearts of men, the blackness undetected there and therefore overlooked and indulged, was not the stuff of greater malignance. She had known the goodness in the world and she had also known the depravity, often resident within the same man, and she kenw that what could live in one man could easily live within another, given a small turn of fate."

Judith Freeman should be more widely recognized, but because she's a woman and she's from the West, she'll never get the attention she deserves.

One thing more I need to say about this novel, the pacing and structure are a challenge. After Emma's portion, the novel really slows down, I kept with it but it wasn't easy to change gears into Ann whose section is about finding a runaway horse and includes lots of descriptive language about the landscape. I'm wondering why Freeman chose to do this. It was not what I expected. I had hoped that Ann's section would also be centered on her marriage to Lee. And Ann is less vividly immagined than Emma. Still, I slowly became reconciled to this slower pace and I could find a beauty in it.

My point is that this novel doesn't build to a climax. There is a sort of revelation at the end, but by then it's so unexpected, the reader has given up on the idea of anything BIG happening. It doesn't give the satisfaction it should because we aren't anticipating anything. Once we get to Ann we don't feel any suspense.

Lastlly, one of the things I take issue with is the characterization of Brigham Young in this novel. He is made into the real villain and I thought this was out of keeping with how much we actually know of the historical event. It was also disappointing because except for her treatment of Young, I thought Freeman was careful and fair minded. As far as I understand it Brigham Young's role in the affair is simply not clear and may never be.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything you need right here - complicated female relationships, vigilantism, religious prophecies, frontier life, awkward sex stuff, extreme weather, awful old men, suffering and redemption.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had never heard about John D. Lee and his wives and the Mountains Meadow Massacre. Interesting POV from three of his wives before and after the massacre. The early Mormon migration and their beliefs/way of life is strangely fascinating to me.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book well enough, but it's definitely written in an interesting style. This piece of historical fiction is told from the perspective of 3 of John D. Lee's 19 wives. I really enjoyed Emma and Ann's narratives, but Rachel's (which is at the conclusion of the book) really seemed to drag. It's certainly an interesting and disturbing story and it goes to show how complex people can be.

[Angie and the Daily Book Dose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I've read some other reviews and do not agree that the book is anti-Mormon, or that the author has a bias against the faith. The book deals with polygamy and is not an apology for the practice.

The book is in 4 parts and each part is the voice of someone integral to the story of the John D. Lee family. Lee himself as a historical figure is a powder keg of controversy, and the same applies to his portrayal in the book. Although the book in some ways claims to be centered around the events following the Mountain Meadows Massacre the incident itself isn't fully addressed, nor did it need to be. In essence the reader, much like the wives of John D. Lee, have to come to terms with what exactly happened that day and what justifications could've been made for such a horrific act. That's the crux of the book. What would women all with varying backgrounds and personalities do when confronted with the possibility that their husband had participated in such a horrible act; furthermore their belief in polygamy with its natural difficulties and jealousies would've made it difficult for them to even express themselves to one another without fear of recrimination. I think the book explored three various wives beliefs regarding why they entered into polygamy, And why ultimately the practice didn't quite work for anyone.

[Cutterid · Rating 4 out of 5]

I met the author at a booksigning here in Boise. She was presented as part of the Log Cabin Literary Society, and although I didn't know anything about the book I was fascinated by the author's personal story and had to get the book. What a remarkable and thought-provoking read. Judith Freeman, a former Mormon, writes a novel in three parts, each part a separate perspective from three of the many wives in a frontier polygamist marriage. The man they are married to features prominently in a brutal attack perpetuated by Indians and Mormon settlers upon a group of emigrants making their way to California, and he becomes the scapegoat for the attack later known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
This is a rich tale of three very different women, who have their own reasons for marrying John D. Lee and who stay (or don't stay) with him according to their values and beliefs. This is an extremely well written book, and the author is amazing in how she can get into the minds of these women and into the psyche of the Mormon religion and the polygamist movement.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the writing is good (unlike many modern styles that distract from the story they are attempting to tell), I found that my interest in a historical novel about real people is limited. I often felt myself wondering how much of it was accurate and how much invented. I think I would prefer to read biographies of real people and novels about fictional people.

But, I presume the major facts are true, such as ages, births, deaths (& causes), major historical events, etc, and it is interesting to speculate on how the wives of John D. Lee felt about the difficult hand of cards life dealt to them. And as to be expected, I gained a healthy dose of respect for pioneers of the American west, particularly the arid and inhospitable corner from which I hail. I can't imagine watching your adobe house and everything in it wash away in a winter storm, along with the rest of the town's houses, and still finding the strength to rebuild in the same place!

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting tale based on real people and events after the Mountain Meadow Massacre. The story is narrated in three different parts by wives of John D. Lee, the purported leader of the Massacre. You get to see, fictionally, how the events of that day affect their lives as a polygamist family helping to settle that area of Southern Utah.

I found it interesting how the author changed voices as she switched narrators in the story. I especially enjoyed the section "written" by Ann, a bride sealed to Lee when she was only 13 years old. You eventually find out why she left him toward the end and how she was able to actually grow up when she left her family, including three children, behind to live her life. Spoiler alert: She turns out to be a strong, thoughtful woman who enjoys the poetic side of pioneer life.

[Coffeeboss · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating historical novel based on real people, Red Water is told from the perspective of three different women, who happen to be three wives of the same man: John D. Lee. Lee was eventually executed (some say he was the scapegoat) for the Mountain Meadows Massacre in Utah in 1857 where over 100 men, women and children were killed by a group of men disguised as Indians. These "Indians" turned out to be Mormon settlers, and the scandal and the massacre is said to lead right to the top: Brigham Young. The three storytellers are all very different: one is a young spitfire, still a rebellious teen; another is a faithful older woman; and the third is a young woman fresh from England. The tale is a fascinating read, so much more so since it is based on true, chilling events.

[Carin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Freeman is an excellent storyteller - unfortunately she plays too much with the facts here and commits character assassination on her subjects (who were living, breathing people.) If I did not know so much about this topic already (for me it is family history) I probably would have given this book five stars. I sobbed through the first chapter as she described my great-great-great grandmother accompanying her husbands body home after he was executed by firing squad. As I got further into the story I became disappointed - not by the craft of her writing, which is excellent - but by the content. Ms. Freeman obviously has some issues...

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting view onto a world I know nothing about (except from watching Big Love). Really gives a picture of what pioneer America was like: the life, the land, the blind faith that many people had for the newly forming Morman religion. Told from the perspective of the 3 wives of a controversial man who took part in a horrific massacre. Told from first person, 3rd person, and journal entries, the accounts give a strong picture of their lives and their marriage to the same man.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reviewed this book for the LA Times when it came out--a brutal, breathtaking novel of early Mormonism in the West, told from the points of view of three of the 19 wives of the Mormon charismatic leader John D. Lee, centering around the story of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, in which Mormons dressed as Indians slaughtered over a hundred non-Mormon settlers. The points of view are fantastic, each of the wives, and how they view their husband, and their place in the West, and their reaction to the filtering news about what has been done in their name.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Judith Freeman's writing style; telling the story from the perspective of three of Lee's wives painted a dramatic picture of this family, their beliefs and challenges. I thought the glimpse into Rachel's diary, rather than direct narrative, set the perfect tone for this particular wife's personality.

George - thank you for suggesting this book. I'm moving The Mountain Meadow Massacre to the top of my to-read list.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read on many different levels. The characters were real and their stories well-written. If I have any criticism, it is of the diary format of Rachel's story, which interrupted the smooth flow of the novel. I learned a lot about the basis of the Mormon religion, not really realizing before that in its beginnings it was a cult of the worse kind.

[Kris Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. This book seemed to be written to continue the polygamy stereotype. Although she had researched John D. Lee and the Mountain Meadow Massacre, it didn't seem to ring authentic to me. I have read other polygamous work written by the women involved. This one seems to be loosely based on real characters, with a lot made up.

[Lorileinart · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books. Obsure, sparse, amazing.
A book about women, and all that this entails. I found the words to be so revealing, as if someone were giving away the secrets that we carry inside us.
All this, surrounded by an actual bloody event in history.

[Melissa Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mormons continue to fascinate me.. . . . so far this book is a good read.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hardly about Mountain Meadow Massacre. More about the author's irritable view of early church history and the involvement in Polygamy.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haunting tale of Mormon history. I don't know how some people live like this...

[Trudy · Rating 2 out of 5]

About the 19th wife of John Lee. Who was executed for the Mountain Meadows Masacre. The author seems to be anti-mormon.

[Myla Vang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Judith Freeman's descriptions of Utah's natural red banded topography gives the reader a surreal first-person view of a Mormon girl, Emma. Emma is born and raised in England, where her family was not affiliated with any religion. She met Mormon missionaries and joined the Saints, along with her close friend Elizabeth. She describes her life after crossing the Ocean and settling in Utah. She is eventually married to John D. Lee, where she finds out she would be his eighth (current) wife.

I initially picked this book because I love learning about other cultures and religions. I also love to learn about controversial topics, like polygamy in the Mormon faith. I loved the introduction to the book; Emma seems to be telling her story through her journal. She tells all of her life story in the past tense, and sometimes refers to her present life.

As I read about her life in the Mormon settlement, I thought the community was safe, welcoming, and peaceful. This remains until John D. Lee is pursued by the law. Him and many other Saints were being tracked after a massacre of Native Americans. After finding out about the massacre, Emma feels betrayed. Her friend Elizabeth cries in her arms, wondering what to do next.

"There were many men that day. Many of our men. Some were part of the killing and some were not. Some killed the women and children, and some killed the wounded and able men (Freeman 79)."

Emma is a loyal wife, for it is a sin for a woman to betray her husband. They believe that a husband can determine if his wife shall be risen into the afterlife based on whether she served him or not.

"Often he spoke on the Divine Principle, expounding on the subject of why polygamy should be the privilege of every virtuous female who has the requisite capacity and qualifications for matrimony... That is as it should be with women. Every woman, Father said, had the right to a husband. Even if it meant, as the Prophet himself had declared, marrying one's own sister in order to grant her the crown of motherhood... Often Father took the opportunity to remind us, his wives, that the blessings of the Gospel come to women only through men. It is through men, and the Holy Priesthood they hold, that women have access to God... On the day of resurrection, the men who have been righteous... will call out the celestial names of their women and thereby raise them... I very much wanted to be raised from the dead on the Holy Day of Reckoning (Freeman 57-58)."

That was a lot of reading, but this shows how corrupt this church is, at least at this time period. The women were supposed to be controlled by the men, otherwise they cannot have connections with God. The backwards belief of this religion at this time is what I have interest in; and in this book especially, because the narrator is a woman.

So far, this is all I have read. I am hoping to find out if Emma will leave her religion or not. The text is slightly difficult to read, and sometimes I would have to reread it. I will continue reading this book throughout the summer because I bought my own copy from Goodwill. I gave this book a 5/5 so far because I love the topic and the writing.

This book has sexual topics, racism, and violence.

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

I attended a reading author Judith Freeman gave at Weber State University years ago. She was doing publicity for the book Red Water. Easily distracted I guess, I failed to get around to reading the book back then. Red Water is a work of historical fiction depicting the polygamous marriage of three women to John D. Lee, the man executed for his participation in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Lee had many other wives, but the novel focuses on just three: Emma, Ann, and Rachel.

The narrative of Red Water divides into four parts, with Parts 2 – 4 depicting each wife’s story from her point of view. Much of that is told first person. Here’s the key thing. Even in Part One, which depicts Lee’s execution, he is deprived of any chance to tell his own story. In this I suspect the author is using literary craft to mete out justice, both to the brutal, self-involved man, and the domineering patriarchy he represents. Though, even I found myself occasionally impressed with Lee as a frontier man.

Womanhood, via marriage and motherhood, does most of the heavy lifting in Red Water. At times it is a heartrending drama. Other times it is a charming, even humorous domestic affair. And the middle section is a great outdoor adventure, as one wife sets off on her own to retrieve a stolen horse.

Red Water takes a candid approach to sex. Somehow, it manages to be graphic without feeling especially lurid. I see wisdom in this choice. Freeman takes out all of the guesswork on the subject. I am grateful for this approach because it allows us to see sexuality as a catalyst. We see it without apology, and then with our curiosity satisfied, we are able to move on to the deeper story. The novel is much more of a character study about women navigating a frontier culture ruled by fundamentalist religion and unmerciful natural forces.

Each of these women has an ego, ambition, and pride. One has consummate faith, another has erratic faith, and the third seems to have no faith at all. Yet all of them seem to, at least for a time, embrace polygamy. The novel derives its tensions from the ways these women push and pull at their shared husband and each other. Whatever the frailties of each character, it seems clear that genuine love is part of the equation.

As for the Mountain Meadows Massacre, this book craftily avoids depicting it directly while still achieving a full sense of horror about it. The reader experiences the massacre mostly through hearsay, willful slander, and pious rationalization, also through clumsy attempts at coverup. We experience it as the women did, second-hand through their community and their husband’s faulty ambition.

I binged my way through Red Water over two nights. I must stress, this book is no edge-of-your-seat thriller, though it has its share of intense moments. The prose is artful, the structure finely crafted. It reminded me of Willa Cather's novels. Once I was in the place with the people, I wanted to stay there. I lived in Utah for almost a decade. This book pulled me back into the harsh yet gorgeous landscape, and to the haunting site of the massacre. These women endure so much. So do their children. Freeman presents them as genuine, problematic souls. Aren't we all? She gives them voice. I highly recommend Red Water for lovers of masterful novel writing.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've recently gotten interested in the early pioneer Utah era and this book really brought it to life for me. The author evokes the feeling of the land and seasons with her writing. I've lived and/or driven through these areas and she has done an accurate job of conveying the beauty and openness of the buttes, mesas, and rangeland of the intermountain West.

Another thing - these women were tough as nails! Sharp-witted, pragmatic, fun loving Emma; young, capable, wise-beyond-her-years Ann; and even Rachel with her religious piety and rigid Victorian outlook on life, were each able to endure the hardships and plain bad luck with a tenacity and strength I admire.

The fact that these are all real people make me want to know more about them.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mountain Meadows Massacre was an actual event that took place in southern Utah in 1857: a wagon train from Arkansas was attacked, and all but the youngest children were killed. Twenty years later Mormon John D. Lee was executed for the crime, which he and others had carried out under orders from Brigham Young himself. The story is told here by three of Lee's wives: Emma, an English girl who actually chose him; Ann, a thirteen year old who he has groomed; and Rachel, the one wife who remains faithful to the end in the belief that the principles she has been taught are true. Brutal, disturbing, but not surprising in light of what I've read about present day Mormon fundamentalists.

[Lorraine McCleary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fictional account of John Lee's Mormon, polygamous family after the Mountain Meadow Massacre in the mid 1800's. The story is told by three of the wives; a starry eyed 26 yo from Britain, one of the older conservative wife and a disillusioned 13 yo. Lee had at least 17 wives and sixty some children. It's hard to understand these women who call Lee, Father, and obey his commands. Many of the wives never believed he killed over 100 men, women and children contrary to evidence. And despite the excesses of Brigham Young and his elders, the women stay until Lee was convicted and shot due to an all Mormon jury convicting him as the scapegoat.

[Tamra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Judith Freeman, the author of the book, looks at the life of John D Lee from the perspective of two of his 20 wives. Interesting history regarding his execution for the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The wives, of course, are certain he was a scapegoat who was betrayed by Brigham Young to put and end to the ongoing investigation of the massacre. Many of his wives left him before the execution and most of them went on with their lives. An interesting look at some of the issues surrounding polygamy and the functioning of the church at this early period

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I finished two other books on vacation I found this interesting telling of a Mormon family, and the partial story of John D Lee, the only Mormon executed for the immigrant massacre originally blamed on local Indians.
Some of the writing in the early chapters was really terrible. The style improved when the author got into the details of why the youngest wife was drawn to John, 30 yrs senior, and the process of adapting to a polygamous family.