Polygamy, women's rights and the pursuit of freedom
Author Howard's novel follows a teen fleeing a fundamentalist community in the '60s
In Leslie Howard's new novel, The Celestial Wife, it's the 1960s and 15-year-old Daisy has fled a fundamentalist polygamous community called Redemption after she is “placed” with a man 40 years her senior.
Out in the world Daisy discovers freedom and feminism, and builds a life. But that is threatened years later when Daisy finds herself pulled back toward Redemption in a bid to save the women she left behind.
Postmedia News asked the bestselling author Howard, who splits her time between Vancouver and Penticton, a few questions about her new book:
Q: Despite criminal convictions of leaders, these polygamist communities still exist today, so why did you want to set the story in the 1960s?
A: My story is about my protagonist, Daisy, leaving the polygamist community she was raised in, but it is also about her stepping into a culture that was in the midst of one of the greatest upheavals in modern history. The 1960s was a period of tremendous cultural, feminist and social change when authority figures were challenged as never before. As a writer, one of my tasks is to create tension for the reader. I felt that the juxtaposition of a rigid, fundamentalist religious community against the free love, drugs and rock `n' roll of the 1960s would create the kind of tension I wanted for Daisy. In the end, it is the culture of the day that inspires Daisy to return to Redemption and face what must be done.
Q: While your town Redemption is fictional, many in B.C. will draw parallels between it and the real town of Bountiful. Is it a fair comparison?
A: Redemption is fashioned from a mix of the real towns of Bountiful, British Columbia; Hildale, Utah; and Colorado City, Arizona, and other polygamous communities in North America. I wanted to create a fictional place that would allow my imagination to go where it needed to go without the constraints of creating an exact replica of a real community.
Q: What was your research process for this novel?
A: The Celestial Wife was my COVID project…. I read extensively on the subject of polygamy and the laws governing its practise, as well as the memoirs of those with intimate knowledge of the subject. I reached out to several friends and family with first-hand information on other aspects of the novel such as the workings of a library in B.C. at that time, the life of an emergency radio operator in remote locations, fruit picking in the Okanagan and The Beatles' concert in Vancouver in 1964. Such accounts are vital for adding authenticity to a novel.
Q: What stopped you in your tracks when you were researching this book?
A: In my research, there were achingly sad stories of childhood trauma. Some children were brought up by sister wives who didn't love them and treated them as burdens, and others endured years of abuse by men whose authority was never questioned. At one point I had to stop reading Debbie Palmer's memoir, Keep Sweet: Children of Polygamy, and then came back to it several months later.
Where did your protagonist Daisy come from?
Q:
A: My first incarnation of Daisy was that of a spirited but quiet young woman who was haunted by her past and the fact that she had been a scapegoat in her community. She was a product of my imagination that was influenced by memoirs I'd read. The character evolved into a young woman who had a fun-loving zest for life and strong independent spirit after I read Rachel Jeffs' memoir, Breaking Free: How I Escaped Polygamy, the FLDS Cult, and My father, Warren Jeffs.
Q: Can you explain what a `celestial wife' is?
A: Some in the FLDS Mormon community refer to all wives after the first wife as a celestial wife while others use the term for the third wife only. It is the third wife who guarantees that the husband (a priesthood man) will be raised up by God to the highest kingdom in heaven, the Celestial Kingdom. The husband will, in turn, raise up his obedient and righteous wives and they will all rule as gods and goddesses in the Celestial Kingdom for all eternity.
Q: While you focused on a 1960s story, how do you feel about the state of women's rights and protections today? A: It has taken the women's movement decades to move attitudes and laws towards those of a more balanced society. I worry that many of the hard-won rights for women around the world are being challenged by a shift in attitudes to a more rigid view of women's rights and freedoms.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from this story?
A: We must be vigilant in protecting the rights of women and children against abuse and exploitation in all its forms wherever we find it, especially if it is sanctioned by a seemingly authoritative structure.