Faith, I tell them, is a mystery, elusive to many, and never easy to explain.Sweeping and lyrical, spellbinding and unforgettable, David Ebershoffs The 19th Wife combines epic historical fiction with a modern murder mystery to create a brilliant novel of literary suspense. It is 1875, and Ann Eliza Young has recently separated from her powerful husband, Brigham Young, prophet and leader of the Mormon Church. Expelled and an outcast, Ann Eliza embarks on a crusade to end polygamy in the United States. A rich account of a familys polygamous history is revealed, including how a young woman became a plural wife.Soon after Ann Elizas story begins, a second exquisite narrative unfoldsa tale of murder involving a polygamist family in present-day Utah. Jordan Scott, a young man who was thrown out of his fundamentalist sect years earlier, must reenter the world that cast him aside in order to discover the truth behind his fathers death.And as Ann Elizas narrative intertwines with that of Jordans search, readers are pulled deeper into the mysteries of love and faith.

From the Hardcover edition.