January Staff Picks: Cory's Pick

The 19th Wife (audiobook)
by David Ebershoff

Ebershoff, who was Norman Mailer’s last editor, has written a patchwork novel that manages to illustrate the roots of and emotional realities of polygamy in historic and modern times. He focuses on the evolution of the practice in the original LDS church, and Brigham Young’s 19th wife, Ann Eliza’s role in its demise. To do this, he employs several voices – Ann Eliza and her family (including Brigham Young), a young man banished from the modern FLDS church and his family of 50+ siblings and a variety of purported historical documents being collated by a BYU graduate student. Overall, a memorable story about faith, loyalty and perspective.