Pat D. (pat0814) reviewed on + 379 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Hidden Wives is not an easy story to read because it deals with all-too-real abuse. It is a chilling novel about a fundamentalist cult where pedophiles, abusers and bigamists give themselves license to commit heinous crimes against women and children with sanction from God and absolute impunity.
Sarah and Rachel are two half-sisters with multiple mothers, siblings and a monster in the guise of their father. Education is not valued unless it is the teaching of fundamentalist Mormon doctrine, as directed by the "Prophet" Silver. Sarah, promised as a wife to her uncle by "Prophet" Silver, craves books and realizes that what they've learned and lived is radically wrong. Rachel merely wants to follow the dictates of the church despite overwhelming evidence that evil thrives within her community.
Unlike another reviewer, I couldn't read this book in one sitting. I had to process what was happening within the pages with breaks of my "normal" world because the knowledge that these cults really do exist is heart rending.
The debut novel is well written, and thoroughly researched. It is difficult to know that there are women who are forced to endure lives like those of the sister-wives in this book. It would be reassuring to know that actual polygamists receive the justice shown at the conclusion of this book to Abraham.
I will follow the writing career of Claire Avery with interest. I am certain that her next novel will also provide thought-provoking themes, which is what good novels do.
Sarah and Rachel are two half-sisters with multiple mothers, siblings and a monster in the guise of their father. Education is not valued unless it is the teaching of fundamentalist Mormon doctrine, as directed by the "Prophet" Silver. Sarah, promised as a wife to her uncle by "Prophet" Silver, craves books and realizes that what they've learned and lived is radically wrong. Rachel merely wants to follow the dictates of the church despite overwhelming evidence that evil thrives within her community.
Unlike another reviewer, I couldn't read this book in one sitting. I had to process what was happening within the pages with breaks of my "normal" world because the knowledge that these cults really do exist is heart rending.
The debut novel is well written, and thoroughly researched. It is difficult to know that there are women who are forced to endure lives like those of the sister-wives in this book. It would be reassuring to know that actual polygamists receive the justice shown at the conclusion of this book to Abraham.
I will follow the writing career of Claire Avery with interest. I am certain that her next novel will also provide thought-provoking themes, which is what good novels do.
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