Author’s Acknowledgements

THE 19TH WIFE is a work of fiction. It is not meant to be read as a stand-in for a biography of Ann Eliza Young, Brigham Young, or any of the other historical figures who appear in it. Even so, it’s human nature to wonder if a historical novel is inspired by real people and real events, and if so to what degree; and thus I feel an obligation to the reader to begin to answer that question.

Anyone attempting to write about the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, even a sliver of it, will immediately encounter the difficult task of accuracy. That is because on nearly every issue in the Church’s past, and in regard to every person who has played a part in the Church’s often remarkable life, there are at least two, and typically more, combative opinions on what each side sincerely calls “the truth.” In the preface to his 1925 biography of Brigham Young, M. R. Werner states the case plainly: “Mormon and anti-Mormon literature is frequently unreliable.”

Ever since her apostasy from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1873, Ann Eliza Young has been a figure of controversy among Mormons and non-Mormons alike. I don’t expect to settle that controversy with this book. One reason the controversy has lingered is that she left a substantial record of her experiences as a plural wife in her two memoirs and many public lectures. Her enemies and allies have used her own words to denounce or support her, and thus in order to write about Ann Eliza Young I inevitably began with her lectures and passionate memoirs, Wife No. 19 (1875) and Life in Mormon Bondage (1908).

The books have their flaws. In them, Ann Eliza can come off as simultaneously hypercritical and hypersensitive. She is selective in her presentation of her story and Mormon history, carrying out an agenda with little subtlety or nuance. Too often her tone becomes strident and vengeful. Her portrait of Brigham Young lacks the complexity for which he was known. And she can get basic information wrong. Yet despite these limitations, her memoirs, as well as her public lectures upon which the memoirs are based, remain the best sources for the plot of her life and, just as important, for appreciating her point of view. If she had not spoken up there would be much about her life, and especially her marriage to Brigham, that we could never know. It is one reason her story is so remarkable— she dared to reveal what thousands of other plural wives bore in silence. Therefore I gratefully acknowledge her original efforts in autobiography. Without them, The 19th Wife would have been a far lesser, far more opaque book. Ann Eliza wrote her books to affect public opinion and change policy, but also to shape her legacy; inspired by this, I wrote chapters of an alternative memoir as part of this novel. My long process of thinking about Ann Eliza and her family, and the context of her life, began with her books, and so it seemed only natural to begin my novel where she does, and then veer away.

The 19th Wife follows Ann Eliza’s basic biographical arc as she describes it, although often I fill in where she skips and I skip where she digresses. I continue past her conclusion and reinterpret where her point of view limits an understanding of her life and times. I also spend time on members of her family, about whom she has little meaningful to say. It is with them—Chauncey, Elizabeth, Gilbert, and Lorenzo Leonard—that I take the most liberties because their biographies are less known and because of the novelist’s need to weave the disparate into something unified. As for Brigham Young, my portrait of him is mostly consistent with that presented by people who knew him, some historians, as well as the sermons, declarations, letters, and diaries he left. Often when he speaks in my narrative, especially at the pulpit, his words are inspired by a sermon we know, through the historical record, he made. I am sure his admirers will argue I linger too long on his egomaniacal tendencies as well as his appetites; and that by quoting him directly on the subject of blood atonement on pages 180–81. I am overemphasizing his calls for violence. Brigham’s detractors, on the other hand, will probably say I let him off the hook. Thankfully the historical record is vast and accessible; the curious reader can visit the library or go online to form his or her own conclusions.

Which leads me to the documents (or “documents”) that run throughout the novel—the newspaper articles, the letters, the Introduction by Harriet Beecher Stowe, the Wikipedia entry. Although I am the author of these, they are fictional representations of what it’s like to spend time in the archives and online researching Ann Eliza Young, Brigham, and early LDS history. Many are inspired by an actual text or a kind of text. For example, my Howard Greenly interview with Joseph purposely evokes Horace Greeley’s well-known interview with Brigham in 1859; the devotional poem “In Our House” is my limp attempt at the sincere hymns many Pioneers wrote to reflect their experiences; and the Wikipedia entry is (obviously) written in a style very much like a Wikipedia entry.

The mighty lens of history has enabled me to see Ann Eliza’s life as she could not, and I have used this perspective to tell her story in a way that perhaps broadens it and connects it to our day. All of this is a longwinded answer to the original question, is The 19th Wife based on real people and real events? Yes. Have I invented much of it? Yes, for that is what novelists do.

Inevitably I relied on a variety of sources to write this book, each important to my task and worth acknowledging. Many times I turned to Irving Wallace’s thorough biography, The Twenty-Seventh Wife (1961), itself indebted to Ann Eliza’s original memoirs. I recommend it, along with Wife No. 19, for anyone who wants to know more about her life. In addition, the Irving Wallace Archive at the Honnold Library at the Claremont Colleges holds a fine collection on Ann Eliza Young; I’m grateful to Mr.Wallace for making his original research available to the public and to Carrie Marsh and the other archivists who maintain it today. Just as important were the archives of the Salt Lake Daily Tribune, one of Ann Eliza’s most vocal allies. This paper published almost daily reports on her battle with Brigham, devoting dozens of news columns to her story and many editorials to support her cause, and reprinted most of the legal filings in their divorce case. Throughout the 1870s and ’80s the Tribune featured a number of articles about the general conditions of polygamy in Utah and serialized sensational personal narratives, many of which supported Ann Eliza’s claims. This thorough repository— today housed on microfiche at the magnificent Salt Lake City Public Library— helped me with crucial details about Ann Eliza’s life, as well as to better understand its historical context. On the other hand, the Deseret News, Ann Eliza’s inevitable opponent, reported on her story from Brigham’s perspective. While other local and national papers covered Ann Eliza’s story in great (and often tabloid) detail, these two publications documented her life story and her apostasy from the Mormon Church as well as any periodical during her day. (The Anti-Polygamy Standard, which published out of Salt Lake City in the 1880s, is a useful source for stories of plural marriage a few years after Ann Eliza’s apostasy.)

Some people argue bibliographies have no place in fiction, but several books and documents have helped me with so many matters large and small that I want to give them the thanks they are due. I haven’t included this list to show off the extent of my reading (or lack thereof ) but to acknowledge a set of authors whose work I learned from: “Ann Eliza Young” by the American Literary Bureau; Brigham Young: American Moses by Leonard J. Arrington; Twenty Years of Congress by James G. Blaine; No Man Knows My History by Fawn M. Brodie; Emma Lee by Juanita Brooks; The City of the Saints by Sir Richard F. Burton; The Pioneer Cookbook by Kate Carter; In Sacred Loneliness by Todd Compton; “Forest Farm House and Forest Dale” by Edith Olsen Cowen; “Brigham Young, His Family and His Wives” compiled by the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers; “Unique Story—President Brigham Young” compiled by the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers; “Autobiography of Moses Deming” by Moses Deming; The Women of Mormonism edited by Jennie A. Froiseth; Nauvoo Factbook by George and Sylvia Givens; By the Hand of Mormon by Terry L. Givens; The Mormon Question by Sarah Barringer Gordon; “Letters” by Irene Haskell; Solemn Covenant by B. Carmon Hardy; “Eliza Jane Churchill Webb, Pioneer of 1848” by Olivette Webb Goe Henry; “Chauncey Griswold Webb, Pioneer of 1848” by Olivette Webb Goe Henry and Nina Beth E. Goe Cunningham; Old Mormon Kirtland by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and T. Jeffrey Cottle; Old Mormon Nauvoo by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and T. Jeffrey Cottle; Life of James Redpath by Charles F. Horner; 111 Days to Zion by Hal Knight and Dr. Stanley B. Kimball; Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer; The Story of the Mormons from the Date of Their Origin to the Year 1901 by William Alexander Linn, especially Chapter IV, “The Hand-Cart Tragedy”; “Utah’s Forty Years of Historical Amnesia” by Theron Luke; Historic Dress in America by Elizabeth McClellan; Redburn by Herman Melville, especially Chapter 38 for its vivid depiction of Liverpool’s slums; Sounding Brass by Hugh Nibley; The Fate of Madame La Tour by Mrs. A. G. Paddock; Eccentricities of Genius by Major J. B. Pond; “August Announcement of 1875” by the Redpath Lyceum; “Brigham Young Divorce Case” by Brigham Henry Roberts; “Ann Eliza—Mrs. Young’s Lecture Last Night—The Story of Her Life” by the St. Louis Republican, December 30, 1873; The Book of Mormon, translated by Joseph Smith, Jr.; The Pearl of Great Price by Joseph Smith, Jr.; God Has Made Us a Kingdom by Vickie Cleverley Speek; Brigham Young at Home by Clarissa Young Spencer and Mabel Harmer; Mormon Country by Wallace Stegner; Expose of Polygamy in Utah by Mrs. T.B.H. Stenhouse; Tell It All by Mrs. T.B.H. Stenhouse (it’s worth noting that Stenhouse’s books inspired Ann Eliza’s memoirs in many ways); Roughing It by Mark Twain; Mormon Polygamy by Richard S.Van Wagoner; “Interview with Joe Place,April 23, 1960” by Irving Wallace; Brigham Young by M. R. Werner; The Bold Women by Helen Beal Woodward; The Journal of Discourses, Volumes 3 and 4, by Brigham Young; Diary of Brigham Young, 1857, edited by Everett L. Cooley; My Dear Sons: Letters of Brigham Young to His Sons, edited by Dean C. Jessee; The Complete Sermons of Brigham Young; and Isn’t One Wife Enough? by Kimball Young.

I owe a great deal to the following institutions and their staffs for making their collections readily available through open stacks and policies of access. Each contains a variety of useful, idiosyncratic materials that I gladly co-opted for my use: the Salt Lake City Public Library; Brigham Young University’s Harold B. Lee Library; the University of Utah’s J. Willard Marriott Library; the Provo Public Library; the Washington County Library in St. George; the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum; and the Nauvoo Family History Center.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has devoted countless resources to creating and staffing dozens of historical museums, many of them free and open to the public. I visited these institutions several times, lingering to take notes and talk to the missionaries serving as docents and guides.Without the church’s careful and abundant preservation of the past throughout Utah, as well as in Nauvoo, I could not have conjured up Ann Eliza’s world.

I want to thank the Metropolitan Community Church of Las Vegas for warmly welcoming me into their sanctuary. Although the sermon on pages 314–16 is inspired by one I heard there on December 18, 2005, the scene itself is fictitious and does not depict this actual church or anyone in its loving congregation.

A number of people generously shared their stories with me.Without them I could not have written this novel as it is: Flora Jessop, Carmen Thompson, Steve Tripp, Mickey Unger, Beverly White, Kevin, Jimmy, Peter, and Susan. Thank you all.

Kari Main of the Pioneer Memorial Museum read the book in manuscript, correcting a number of errors. Her sharp, knowing eye fixed the book in many ways. She was an ideal reader and these few words are not enough thanks for her efforts.

The supremely talented Catherine Hamilton drew the illustration on page 220; it is based on an original 1876 etching by Stanley Fox. I’d like to thank the Danish Arts Council for their support while I was revising the novel; Peter and Gitte Rannes for their warm hospitality at the Danish Centre for Writers and Translators in Hald; and Nathaniel Rich and Martin Glaz Serup for a productive retreat.

Alexis Richland provided much needed editorial guidance on an early draft. Her thoughtful response helped solve some problems that had lingered in my mind for years. Mark Nelson read several drafts, each time raising important questions in need of resolution. His fierce intelligence improved the novel in every sense. I’m grateful for the many hours he devoted to this book, and for his unyielding friendship and support. Daryl Mattson, who has never tired of listening to me gab about almost anything, served as a sounding board for a number of ideas in this book, even when he wasn’t aware of it. The name of the Internet café in St. George, A Woman Sconed, comes from him.

For ten years Elaine Koster has been a formidable agent, insightful editor, and loyal friend. Her unflagging encouragement helped bring this book from an early idea to the pages you now hold. I owe her much. Lots of thanks are due to Marianne Velmanns and her colleagues at Transworld. They are the kind of publisher every writer hopes to have. The thanks I want to offer Random House are vast. So many people there have helped me over so many years that any list of names is bound to forget someone crucial. So I’ll make a blanket but sincere expression of gratitude to everyone at 1745. I know how books are published, and I know that each of you played a part. I hope you’ll forgive me for not printing the company roster. But I must thank my editor, Kate Medina. She is a brilliant reader, and her wise pencil made this book better in many, many ways. Frankie Jones and Jennifer Smith shouldered the burdens of turning a manuscript into a book; each did so with grace and generosity. Jynne Martin, publicity-goddess: it’s an honor to be on your roster. And to my publisher, Gina Centrello, thank you for your support, which has shown itself in so many ways.

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