A review by danne789
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

3.0

This book is part documentary, part murder mystery. I really enjoyed it. The book goes back and forth betwee the 1800s and present day. Present day follows excommunicated Jordan, while the 1800s follow Ann Eliza. The neat thing about Ann Eliza though is you don't get all of her story thought her POV. You get letters from others, newspaper clippings, a wikipedia entry. You're learning about her through the lense of a hisotrian who is researching her. It was really neat. I learned a lot about early Mormonism history, and then I got a break and went to Jordan and learning about his experince but also, we see him trying to prove his mother's innocence.

The only thing keeping me from giving it four of five stars was some of the parts dedicated to Ann Eliza became repetitve and borning. Also, the ending, when you find out "who dun it" was rather anitclimatic.

But overall, I did enjoy this book and would recommend it.