Walking with the Women of the Book of Mormon

by Heather Farrell, Mandy Williams (Contributor)

While the women in the Book of Mormon are mostly unnamed, there are surprisingly more women included than most people think. In this book you will meet 47 women, or groups of women, who teach valuable lessons about peacemaking, gaining a testimony, perseverance, discipleship, and creating lasting conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. With gorgeous photographs and insightful analysis, add depth to your study of the Book of Mormon by discovering how the women of the Book of Mormon add their voices to another testament of Jesus Christ.

Genres: Nonfiction, Lds, Religion, Spirituality

283 pages, Hardcover

Published November 12, 2019

About the author

Heather Farrell’s love for the scriptures began young, when at the age of 11 she hid under a flashlight under her pillow so she could read the Old Testament late at night. Her love for the women in scriptures began when, her oldest son was born around Christmas time and she felt a kinship with Mary, the mother of Jesus. As she began to research Mary she realized that there were hundreds of women in the scriptures, but very little had been written about them. Excited by all the women she discovered, she began sharing what she learned on her popular blog, Women in the Scriptures (womeninthescriptures.com). Primarily self taught in the scriptures, Heather is a testament to the truth that becoming a scholar of the gospel is not beyond anyone’s reach, it just takes an inquisitive mind and the companionship of the Holy Ghost. Heather grew up in Idaho but currently lives in Iowa with her husband, four children, two sheep, a goat and a flock of chickens.

Reviews

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of speculation, a lot of information, a lot of personal interpretations and thoughts. The only reason I gave it two stars instead of one was because of the obvious amount of work that went into it. The narration made it difficult for me to get through the book. The amount of mispronunciations of common words (mostly using “woman” instead of “women” throughout most of the book, which obviously was frequent) made it difficult to listen.

[LeeAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed listening to this book. Heather Farrell put together many great ideas and factual information of the women referenced in the Book of Mormon. Some of the ideas are new to me while many others are not. I enjoyed her conversational style of writing with her sympathetic view of forces that may have played upon them. I was impressed with her research into how empowered Book of Mormon women were in comparison to women in other civilizations.

Unexpectedly, the author also addressed the use of gender with a few inanimate objects. I especially liked the comparison of ships to women vs the comparison of women to ships. That’s worth picking up the book to read!

[Rosanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the sheer amount of skilled research that went into this book, it gets 4 stars. Since the Book of Mormon is the only book of Nephite history, I see the struggle she has in making cultural assumptions, and sometimes I think she took an idea farther than I would have. However, this is her third book on women in scriptures, and her guesses are likely better than mine. In any case, it offered a different perspective and at least opened my eyes to other possibilities.

The book is beautiful, meant to be seen. The photography is well done, and I like the attention given to groups of women that are normally glossed over. A great resource for extra study of the Book of Mormon.

[Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a few really cool things in here, but I felt a lot of it was the writers opinion and interpretation of events, which may or may not have been correct. She often put words into these women’s mouths and defined what she think they might have felt and thought. I didn’t really like that.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodreads review:
If you are the type of reader who likes to pick up a book, read a little, and be able to come back to it again at your leisure, this one may be for you. It is almost devotional in its style, because each chapter or section is self-contained and discusses different women or groups of women. Chapters could even be read out of order according to interest without losing the overall impact of the book. It is written in chronological order of how we meet each woman/group of women as we read through the Book of Mormon, so it could make an interesting side-read along with your BoM study.

The most impactful chapters, for me, were the ones where the author sticks to what was written and included about the women mentioned, or when she uses scholarly evidence for their time period and location, such as the women who lived in/near Jerusalem or surrounding areas, since we know much more historically about them and it gives more credence to some of the author's interpretations and inferences. I was uncomfortable with some of the chapters when it felt like there were too many assumptions, theories, and too much reaching to assign feelings, attitudes, and characteristics to women in some of the other sections in order to extrapolate a lesson. The more factually-based chapters in which the author stuck to what was written and what we know felt much more solid, while the others felt a though they were built on such shaky foundations that the whole thesis of the chapter seemed precariously far-fetched. Unfortunately, the digital ARC I received did not allow for highlighting or I would offer a few examples. They would include copious "could mean," "may have," and "possibly" phrasing. My rating reflects this frustration. A couple of chapters/essays were excellent, some were good, some were just okay, and others I really struggled with, though I could see how well-intentioned the author was.

I appreciated the inclusion of quotes from modern-day prophets and personal stories that supplemented some of the points in the book, as well as comparisons of some of these ancient groups of women to groups today, like refugees.

Each chapter includes at least one artistically photographic portrayal of those discussed in the chapter, anywhere from one person to a whole group of them.

[Kent · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. The author doesn’t seem to have thought carefully about what she was doing. While she tries to explore the lives of women in the Book of Mormon, when she actually does that she shows little insight or analysis. Instead, the women are a jumping off point for very conventional devotional material — its as if she sees these women not as people to learn from, but as the initial example for a Sacrament Meeting talk on an assigned subject.

I was particularly disappointed that she sees these women as cardboard characters — either all righteous or all evil. I doubt that is true in any one of the cases mentioned. The worst cases are those where she seems to be grasping at straws, pulling in the women (for example) who listened to King Benjamin’s address — and anything that could be said about them would equally apply to the men who listened to that address. There wasn’t anything to learn.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved hearing all about the women that are mentioned in the Book of Mormon. It is interesting to have pointed out how many women really were talked about - even though not by name. Women have always played a key role behind the scenes.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars, rounded up
I enjoyed the research and commentary. I also gained new insights I hadn’t considered before. I like how she talked about every woman mentioned in the Book of Mormon, even if they weren’t named. (Nephi’s wife, the mothers of the stripling warriors, etc.) There was more than I thought! Some commentary here and there made me cringe a little, but overall, it was a decent book. I listened to the audiobook, so I didn’t get to enjoy the artwork which I heard was really good too.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this as much as the New and Old Testament books by the same author, perhaps because there are actually only 3 BoM women who are named, and because when I learned about the Biblical women, there is so much history and historical analyzation that I am not family with and many of the women I had not learned about.

[Gable Roth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good installment in the series. Not quite as many women in the book of Mormon as there are in the Bible but it was still interesting to learn more about them. Heather does a great job of presenting her research in a clear way. She balances her own thoughts with the thoughts of experts and theologians. It makes for a fun and inspirational read.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book to pick up and read a few pages here and there, or read along with your studies of the Book of Mormon. The photography was beautiful! Some of the women in the photographs are from my home town, which made reading this book even more special to me.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot. I felt the author did a good job discussing the context and unwritten implications of many Book of Mormon passages. Sometimes her insights were speculative, but she phrased them as such.

[Tayler Morrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a great attempt at seeing things from a woman's perspective. It is clear that there was a lot of historical and cultural research done on ancient Hebrew culture as well as MesoAmerican cultures. However, many of the women were still a little shadowed by explaining the named male's story.

[Danica is Booked · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book that was gifted to me.

[Hollie Robb · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m sorry, I couldn’t read all this book. Lots of commentary that I didn’t find necessary and skipped over.