Starred review from November 5, 2018
Weisgarber’s marvelous third novel (after The Promise) is set in the rugged canyon country of southern Utah during the winter of 1887–1888 as a Mormon woman struggles to hold her faith in the face of religious persecution and her fear of the law. Deborah’s husband is overdue to return from a trip, having left her alone in the remote hamlet of Junction, Utah Territory, a collection of eight Mormon families living their faith as each sees fit. One winter night, a stranger arrives at Deborah’s cabin asking for help, speaking in a code that she knows means he’s a polygamist running from the law. He is pursued by a U.S. marshal, and, despite her fear, Deborah hides him, then passes him on to her brother-in-law, Nels, to guide to safety. A tense encounter between the marshal, Nels, and the stranger results in an act of violence and reveals that there’s more to the marshal’s pursuit of the stranger than meets the eye. The moment of violence rocks and divides the small Mormon community; when two more strangers arrive, Deborah and Nels must protect their faith and their community without further violence, while dealing with tender feelings for each other. This is a rich, powerful, and wholly immersive tale grounded in Utah and Mormon history.
January 1, 2019
Deborah Taylor is an anomaly among the Latter-day Saints in Utah Territory in the 1880s. She has no children, and husband Samuel's work as a wheelwright takes him away from home for long stretches, leaving her on her own. What's more, she doesn't believe in plural marriage. That doesn't stop her from providing aid to the polygamists who come to the remote settlement of Junction on the run from federal marshals; Samuel's half-brother Nels, Deborah's neighbor (and co-narrator), is the one who guides the men through the canyons to a place of sanctuary. Samuel's homecoming is long overdue when a fugitive shows up at her cabin on a cold January night, soon followed by a marshal who has tracked the man all the way from Tennessee. When the marshal is injured, Deborah's decision to take care of him puts the small community of Junction at risk. Weisgarber (The Promise, 2014) makes effective use of early Mormon history to explore moral choice, and compression in language, setting, number of characters, and chronology lends this tale an unusual force.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)