Based on your reading of The 19th Wife, what kind of memoirist do you think the real Ann Eliza Young was?ġ1.

19, first published in 1875, and a second book, Life in Mormon Bondage, which came out in 1908. Why do you think Ebershoff wrote a fictional memoir by Ann Eliza Young, and why are some chapters missing? As he says in his Author’s Note, the real Ann Eliza Young actually wrote two memoirs: Wife No. Why do you think Ebershoff wrote the novel with so many voices? How do the voices play off one another? Who is your favorite narrator? Who is your least favorite?ġ0. Like many mysteries, Jordan’s story is a quest. What do you think Ebershoff is saying by this?Ĩ. Heber, Maureen, Kelly, and Tom–are Mormons. What makes him a good sleuth? What are his blind spots?ħ. What kind of man is Chauncey Webb? And Gilbert? What do they tell you about polygamy?Ħ. How does the novel portray him? Do you come to understand his deep convictions? In the story of his marriage to Ann Eliza, he essentially gets the last word. Brigham Young was one of the most dynamic and complex figures in nineteenth-century America.

What are your impressions of Ann Eliza Young, and how do those impressions change over the course of the novel? Do you trust her as a narrator?Ĥ. Ann Eliza Young says, “Faith is a mystery.” How does Ebershoff play with this metaphor? What are the mysteries in The 19th Wife? What does the novel say about faith?ģ. What did you think when you started reading The 19th Wife? Which story interested you the most?Ģ. The first part of the novel, “Two Wives,” contains prefaces to two very different books.

The 19th wife book