Summary:
Salt Lake City, Utah, 1882: Hazel Russon knows she's supposed to suppress her sinful dreams of a monogamous life with her sweetheart, and her desire for the freedom to play her beloved piano. Every Mormon woman's duty is to live obediently and meekly, devoted to her husband and her calling as a sister wife. Her eternal salvation depends upon it.
Commanded to become the fourth wife of a man she's never met, Hazel is relieved that Jacob Manwaring is attentive and handsome. However, she is shocked to discover that instead of living separately as is custom, all of Jacob's wives and children live in the same house - a large, dilapidated manor that inexplicably fills Hazel with dread.
My Thoughts:
Hazel is distraught when her sweetheart no longer wishes to marry her, leaving her to marry a stranger instead. With the government cracking down on polygamy, she is shocked to find that she will be living with her sister wives and their children in the same house. Some of them are welcoming, while others seem to delight in scorning her for being the youngest and not knowing how some chores are properly done. As Hazel settles into her new life there, she gets increasingly worse nightmares and starts to believe that the manor may be haunted. When she discovers that she is actually the fifth wife, and the other one disappeared, everything starts to unravel. Secrets come to light, and Jacob isn't what he seems.
I ended up really enjoying this one. The atmosphere was secluded, creepy, and had a gothic feeling. The writing was well done and made me want more of the characters. My only complaint is that some of the characters, like a few of the sister wives, were not as developed and seemed a bit one-dimensional, like Flora. I would have liked to know more about them and their motivations in the story. That being said, this was a fantastic read and I had a hard time putting it down once I started.
My Rating: 5 stars
