The Celestial Wife: A Novel

(Paperback)

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A young fundamentalist Mormon girl facing a forced marriage escapes her strict, polygamist community and comes of age in the tumultuous 1960s in this captivating novel inspired by shockingly true events.

Keep sweet no matter what, for this is the way to be lifted up
Keep sweet with every breath, for it is a matter of life or death

1964. Fifteen-year-old Daisy Shoemaker dreams of life beyond her small, isolated fundamentalist Mormon community of Redemption on the CanadaUS borderdespite Bishop Thorsens warning that the outside world is full of sin. According to the Principle, the only way to enter the celestial kingdom is through plural marriage. While the boys are taught to work in the lucrative sawmill that supports their enclave, Daisy and her best friend, Brighten, are instructed to keep sweet and wait for Placementthe day the bishop will choose a husband for them. But Daisy wants to be more than a sister-wife and a mother. So when she is placed with a man forty years her senior, she makes the daring decision to flee Redemption.

Years later, Daisy has a job and a group of trustworthy friends. Emboldened by the ideas of the feminist and counterculture movements, she is freer than she has ever beenuntil Brighten reaches out with a cry for help and Daisys past comes hurtling back. But to save the women she left behind, Daisy must risk her newfound independence and return to Redemption, where hellfire surely awaits.

For readers of Emma Clines The Girls and Ami McKays The Virgin Cure comes an arresting coming-of-age novel about a fearless young girls fight for freedom at a time of great historic change.

Reviews

Shedding light onto one of Canadas most shadowed truths, Leslie Howards insightful research takes us on a heart-wrenching and compelling journey from behind the curtain of an infamous polygamous cult into a hard-won life of unimaginable freedom for one brave woman.
GENEVIEVE GRAHAM, #1 bestselling author of Bluebird
An engaging book about a spunky young protagonist who finds herself catapulted out of the confines and conformity of a fundamentalist community into the drugs, sex, and rock and roll of the 1960s. Howard has a natural gift for time, place, and setting, and her pacing and suspense are propulsive.
ROBERTA RICH, #1 bestselling author of The Jazz Club Spy
This fascinating story of a young girls escape from her closed polygamous community cuts straight to the heart.
ELINOR FLORENCE, bestselling author of Wildwood and Birds Eye View

Author Bio

Leslie Howardis the instant bestselling author ofThe Brideship Wife. She grew up in British Columbia and developed a passion for the provinces history. She divides her time between Vancouver and Penticton, where she and her husband grow cider apples. Connect with her on Twitter@AuthorLeslieHor on her websiteLeslieHoward.ca.