Karen F. (cosmichomicide) reviewed on 5/19/2006 + 134 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 4

"Saints" (first published way back in 1984) begins in Manchester, England, in 1829, in the midst of the horrors of the industrial revolution. A family falls on hard times and you quickly get caught up in their day-to-day struggles for survival. But no sooner do you think you are reading a latter-day version of Dickens, then the Latter Day Saints appear. Young Dinah Kirkham and her mother and brother convert to Mormonism and emigrate to America -- extraordinary events that the author makes seem inevitable, from his thorough build-up of the characters and their circumstances. Dinah becomes the focus of the book, which follows her from age 10 to age 100, marrying Joseph Smith, and later Brigham Young. She becomes so real, so believable, so necessary to the history of the Mormon Church, that when you are done reading the novel, you'll be impelled to do one Google search after another, looking for evidence that such a woman really lived. The author also succeeds remarkably in making the strangest beliefs and practices of the Mormon Church -- including polygamy -- seem natural and inevitable: psychologically "true". - Richard Seltzer (from Amazon reviews)

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