Faith, I tell them, is a mystery, elusive to many, and never easy to explain.

Sweeping and lyrical, spellbinding and unforgettable, David Ebershoff’s The 19th Wife combines epic historical fiction with a modern murder mystery to create a brilliant novel of literary suspense.

It is 1875, and Ann Eliza Young has recently separated from her powerful husband, Brigham Young, prophet and leader of the Mormon Church. Expelled and an outcast, Ann Eliza embarks on a crusade to end polygamy in the United States. A rich account of a family’s polygamous history is revealed, including how a young woman became a plural wife.

Soon after Ann Eliza’s story begins, a second exquisite narrative unfolds–a tale of murder involving a polygamist family in present-day Utah. Jordan Scott, a young man who was thrown out of his fundamentalist sect years earlier, must reenter the world that cast him aside in order to discover the truth behind his father’s death.

And as Ann Eliza’s narrative intertwines with that of Jordan’s search, readers are pulled deeper into the mysteries of love and faith.--From the Hardcover edition.

大卫·埃贝尔舍夫，美国著名作家，目前执教于纽约大学。曾出版作品《帕萨迪纳》和《丹麦女孩》，以及短篇小说集《红玫瑰城》，曾获美国艺术文学院奖。

其最新作品《第十九个妻子》，气势磅礴、引人入胜，史诗般恢弘的历史故事与一桩现代谋杀谜案交织，演绎为一部才华横溢、充满悬念的小说。其时空跨越百年，以细腻感人的笔触控诉一夫多妻制的残酷本质，描绘在其间苦苦挣扎的妇女怀抱的希望、爱、梦想与失落，催人泪下，发人深思。