The Mormons, Plural Marriage, and a Love Story #theglovemaker @annweisgarber @SkyhorsePublishing #mormons #utahterritoty #historicalfiction @edelweissbyabovethetreeline @absltmom

It takes a book such as this to make one realize what a very difficult life the American pioneers had living in uncharted harsh land that was isolated and remote.

A powerful tale grounded in the Utah Territory and the Mormon faith

In The Glovemaker by Ann Weisgerber, we are introduced to Deborah Tyler, a woman whose husband is a wheelwright, and also a Mormon. Because of their differing beliefs in the Mormon faith, they decided to move to an enclave consisting of seven families in a place they call Junction. Deborah’s husband, Samuel, needs to travel with his occupation and when the book opens we learn that he is overdue home. The weather has shut down, it is winter in the Utah territory and the harsh realities that are faced by Deborah and others make this a compelling story.

Into this book, is interwoven the idea that Deborah and her husband have helped men who are running from the law because they believe in the ability to have a number of wives, which was formerly one of the tenets of the Mormon faith. These men, along with those who harbor them, are considered felons so when one of them shows up on blistery winter’s day at Deborah’s door while her husband was away, she is tasked to find a way to assist him. Deborah’s life becomes more hazardous when a Marshall shows up in search of the runaway felon and she and the brother of her husband must find a way to cover up the fact that they have assisted this man.

There are many underlying themes to this well written story, ones of questioning the faith one had embraced, one of helping those in danger with no thought to your own peril, one of loving a husband who is well overdue to return home, and one of living in a place that is so inhospitable that it taxes the mind and body.

I enjoyed this story for the grace of its characters, for the depiction of frontier life, and for giving me a bit more understanding of the Mormon religion.

Thank you to Ann Weisgarber, Skyhorse Publishing and Edelweiss for a copy of this interesting novel.

and here’s the author

Ann is the author of The Glovemaker, The Promise and The Personal History of Rachel DuPree. For Rachel Dupree she was nominated for England’s 2009 Orange Prize and for the 2009 Orange Award for New Writers. In the United States, she won the Stephen Turner Award for New Fiction and the Langum Prize for American Historical Fiction. She was shortlisted for the Ohioana Book Award and was a Barnes and Noble Discover New Writer. For The Promise Ann was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and a finalist for the Spur Award for Best Western Historical Fiction. She was also a finalist for the Ohioana Book Award for Fiction.