20-year old Jordan Scott must go back to his polygamist hometown of Mesadale and find out who framed his mother, BeckyLyn, for murder. Six years earlier, at the behest of the Fundamentalist Mormon Elders, his mother had driven Jordan to the highway and left him to fend for himself with just $17. Now he is the only person who believes BeckyLyn is innocent, and here begins the first of two tales about love and faith interwoven into David Ebershoff’s third novel, The 19th Wife. This is a contemporary murder mystery told in Scott’s flippant yet engaging voice that hooks us in with its jaded observations and sarcastic tone.
The dominant story is about Ann Eliza Young, one of Brigham Young’s wives and the only one to divorce him. Her story mirrors the early history of the Mormon Church, and unfolds as historical fiction through diary entries, three generation of letters, academic papers, and ìresearch.î Although intellectually compelling, it does not have the emotional appeal of Scott’s murder mystery.
Advertisement
Initially, Ebershoff deftly draws parallels to each story that are both subtle and conspicuous. Both Young and BeckyLyn are the 19th wife of their respective husbands. Actions by both women uncover psychological damage inflicted by polygamy upon the women and children of Young and BeckyLyn's chosen sects. Ebershoff spends the bulk of the book on Young’s story, giving Scott’s astute and riveting narrative short space. The 19th Wife loses much of its tension by the last 50 pages, making one wish it were a shorter work.
The Monsters of Templeton
By Lauren Groff
Hyperion/Voice
Lauren Groff employs a cacophony of voices in her debut novel, The Monsters of Templeton, the most dominant one being that of Willie Upton. The 28-year old Stanford grad student returns home to Templeton, New York, pregnant and disgraced after an ill-fated affair with a married professor. Established by an ancestor, Marmaduke Temple, Templeton is home to the baseball museum and famous author Jacob Franklin Temple ìwhose novels we read every year in high school.
Advertisement
Home isn’t the same; a dead 50-foot-long prehistoric monster has been found in Lake Glimmerglass, Upton’s mother, Vi, has gone from hippie to Baptist and reveals the truth about her daughter’s paternity. Instead of being conceived in a free-love commune in San Francisco, Upton was conceived in Templeton, and Upton's father still lives there. That is all Vi will tell her, along with the fact that Upton’s father, too, is a progeny of Marmaduke Temple.
Upton must delve into the past, not only her family’s but her personal past, as she reconnects with old classmates through new relationships. Her pregnancy and paternity aren’t her only concerns. She’s repulsed by her mother’s relationship with the Reverend, and her best friend Clarissa is dying of lupus. Additionally, the more Upton studies her family tree, the more she uncovers the myths that kept them respectable.
Groff presents an ambitious story told from different perspectives, like The Running Buds, a group of joggers together for almost 30 years, and correspondence and diary entries from fictional ancestors, all engaging and revealing. If one can separate the various voices, then Monsters is well worth the read.
Toni Morrison sets her ninth novel, A Mercy, in late 17th century America, when the institution of slavery was based on class and not race.
A Mercy has been called a prequel to Beloved, as it tackles some of the same issues. The language here is more approachable; Morrison sticks to her poetic style but is less burdened with symbolism and magic realism.
The story begins with Florens, an Angolan slave girl given to Jacob Vaark years earlier as a payment for debt. Rebekka, or ìMistress,î came to the New World as a wife sold to Vaark, who himself was once an indentured servant. Morrison’s eloquent but plain prose reveals Florens’ teenage heart in love with a free African blacksmith, and the only person who can save Mistress’s life. Florens’ devotion to him is what Mistress and Lina, a Native American slave, depend on when they send Florens out to find him.
Advertisement
Now suffering from the same pox that killed her husband, she is not too ill to realize that without heirs her death means the end of everything they worked for. By her side is Lina, superstitious, reader of signs, more friend than servant. A surrogate-mother to Florens, Lina has her own story of loss and separation to tell.
Multiple characters weave together an account that is not weighty, but each narrative pushes the story deeper and further. At 167 pages, A Mercy appropriately handles the topics of love, sacrifice, family, and class in a time before skin color determined a man’s worth.
