MANY HEAVENS

This is her best book- and she has written several good novels of Mormon life. And yet, in the solutions of the central problems of the story, she will come up against accepted standards of behaviour and morals which may disturb a good many readers... View the book as a whole picture of a people and a way of life. The time- the turn of the century, while the issue polygamy was still a live one, through law had decided against it. The younger generation knew it as integral to their parents' very being. Some of the church leaders had gone outside the country rather than abandon the wives they loved and revered. Others risked the penalty and continued to practice polygamy in different communities. But to all -- the climate of opinion was unlike that in other parts of the country. On other scores, however, moral censorship was rigid, undeviating:- liquor, coffee- these were mortal sine. Against this background is told the story of two girls who loved inaccessible men -- and of how the pattern of thought and belief and tradition warred with emotional conflict and community censorship. It is a moving story, convincing in essence if not wholly in conclusions, and holding reading throughout.