Finalist for the Western Writers of America’s 2020 Spur Awards for Historical Novel Finalist for the 2019 Association for Mormon Letters Awards for Novel “Compelling historical fiction…. Part love story, part religious explication, part mystery….A journey you won’t forget.”—Houston ChronicleIn the inhospitable lands of the Utah Territory, during the winter of 1888, thirty-seven-year-old Deborah … Utah Territory, during the winter of 1888, thirty-seven-year-old Deborah Tyler waits for her husband, Samuel, to return home from his travels as a wheelwright. It is now the depths of winter, Samuel is weeks overdue, and Deborah is getting worried.
Deborah lives in Junction, a tiny town of seven Mormon families scattered along the floor of a canyon, and she earns her living by tending orchards and making work gloves. Isolated by the red-rock cliffs that surround the town, she and her neighbors live apart from the outside world, even regarded with suspicion by the Mormon faithful who question the depth of their belief.
When a desperate stranger who is pursued by a Federal Marshal shows up on her doorstep seeking refuge, it sets in motion a chain of events that will turn her life upside down. The man, a devout Mormon, is on the run from the US government, which has ruled the practice of polygamy to be a felony. Although Deborah is not devout and doesn’t subscribe to polygamy, she is distrustful of non-Mormons with their long tradition of persecuting believers of her wider faith.
But all is not what it seems, and when the Marshal is critically injured, Deborah and her husband’s best friend, Nels Anderson, are faced with life and death decisions that question their faith, humanity, and both of their futures.
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This book is easy to get into. The words flow and it draws you in right away. The story line is unlike anything you have probably ever read. I recommend it!
This is a very dark book, but I learned a lot about the persecution of the Mormons. The plot certainly kept one on the edge of her seat.
This book was informative regarding the LDS religion in the 1800’s period. I received information that I wasn’t aware of. It was very touching.
As I had ancestors who were Mormon polygamists, much seemed realistic to me. I liked the sense of what much of life was like then. No idea if there really was disgrace and dishonor in helping polygamists flee – that does seem unlikely to me. Polygamy was against the law after the Manifesto, but good Mormons still believed in it, even if they had to often pretend to now avoid it.
I enjoyed learning this group of Saints who broke off from the Mormons because they didn’t believe in plural marriage. The author vividly explains the lives of some settlers and their struggle to survive in such an unfriendly landscape. I wanted to keep reading and was sorry when the story ended.
the title has very little to do with the book itself. A different look at Mormons. Clearly, not all believed in polygamy. The story is more about hope and faith in life.
This book took me by surprise and it absolutely blew me away! It’s an up close and personal account of a period in our nation’s history that I never knew about until my eyes were opened while reading this book. Ann Weisgarber’s beautiful and terrifying story affected me so deeply that I held my breath right along with her main character from beginning to end. I had no idea that the Latter Day Saints were so feared and so reviled in 1888 that they were forced to live in small and very remote areas of the wilderness where they could live in peach while drawing no attention to themselves. I cannot even begin to imagine how they reconciled their faith with the terror of being found that they had to live with on a daily basis. In The Glovemaker we’re introduced to a woman with extraordinary courage and conviction who willingly puts her life on the line to protect her fellow Saints when the law comes looking for a fugitive and she answers the knock on her door. Be prepared for heart pounding terror and a mind blowing lesson in one woman’s bravery and conviction that will stay with you for the rest of your days. I read an early copy of this book through NetGalley and all opinions expressed in my voluntary review are completely my own.
Seven Mormon families have settled in the tiny town of Junction, Utah, along the bottom of a canyon. Deborah and her husband Samuel are one those families. They have no children. Samuel, a wheelwright, travels for months at a time, repairing and building wheels for people along his route. Deborah tends their orchard and makes gloves for a living. It is 1888 and Mormons are still seen as evil for their views, particularly their custom of plural marriage. The people who have moved to Junction have done so to live their lives without the many constraints their church puts on its members, including polygamy, while still observing the basic tenets of their faith. One evening, in the early winter of 1888, Deborah is worrying over Samuel’s lateness in returning home from his work when there is a knock at her door. The man who enters her home is a fellow Mormon and a fugitive from the law for his marrying a third wife, the young daughter of a U.S. Marshall in Tennessee. He is one of several who have made their way to Junction for refuge and assistance in evading the authorities. The next day, after Deborah has lead him to the nearby home of her neighbor and good friend Nels, who will guide the fugitive to the next town, a U.S. Marshall arrives at her door. At this point, life changes for Deborah, Nels, and all the other residents of Junction.
This was a wonderfully written, sad but beautiful novel. I finished it two days ago, and am still thinking about it. I strongly recommend this book.
I thank Netgalley, the author Ann Weisgarber, and the publisher Skyhorse Publishing, for the ARC I read and thoroughly enjoyed. This is my honest opinion.
This book provides a glimpse into the discrimination of Mormons in the 1800s and the lengths they went to to protect their beliefs and practices. The novel is initially written in a style that had me begging for me. The author captured a level of fear and suspense that the characters lived through in sustaining their way of life.
Ann Weisgarber captures the isolation of a small berg in a remote part of Utah and the scrutiny they went through. The Glovemaker is about relationships that the the main character forged and Weisgarber weaves gloves into these relationships.
I hard a hard time putting this book down and lost several hours of sleep finishing it.
Good historical novel about a difficult time in American history
I didn’t know much about the plight of the Mormons until I read this. An eye opener.
Writing was somewhat stilted and repetitive.
The book gave me a historical view of women in the West and their contributions.
I loved this book! It takes place in 1887 Utah, when historical tensions between Mormons and Gentiles put families and individuals in danger. Deborah, the glovemaker, finds herself in the middle of such a crisis, and she struggles to do the right thing for everyone. She’s a strong, memorable character, and the writing is as smooth as the cherished rocks given to Deborah by her husband.
I found myself captured by the first chapter, still interested in the second, and then slowly losing interest and getting bored, impatient even, in subsequent chapters. I found the voices and the telling to be staccato, repetitive, utterly strange in delivery. Slow in tempo. I stuck with it because Weisgarber is an excellent writer and she sets up the story so that I wanted to find out what happened next. Then I hit around Chapter 9 or 10, and things started clipping along. The dynamic between Nils and Deborah added yet another layer of tension and depth. I feel it added strength to the style of the narration. All of sudden, it all made sense. All of a sudden this ping-ping-ping in thoughts and things that are said and not said, done and not done, made total sense. Everything became tangible: the danger, the world, the doubts, the fears, the love, the sense of duty–all tangled up in a tattered cloak of religion. I was drawn right back into the story and enjoyed it thoroughly. So glad I stuck with it.
As an aside, the dog was so brilliantly done I could only believe that Weisgarber spent ages observing animal behavior. I am a fan, once again.
This books an interesting perspective to poligamy…all sides! Good plot…a good read!
I liked it a lot. Interesting, informative and a little historical. I liked the characters a lot.
Just couldn’t get into it. Sorry.
Ann Weisbarger has done it again. From the opening page I was drawn into this story and its characters. It is set in Utah in the late 1880’s in a small and remote settlement of Latter Day Saints who want some distance from the structure of the church. Although they don’t believe in polygamy they risk their safety to help polygamists running from the law. But this time, everything is different.
A fictionalized story of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints settlers living in the town of Junction which is now a part of Capitol Reef National Park. Deborah Tyler is the glovemaker and this story covers the events that occurred in their town beginning in January when her husband Samuel is away traveling across Utah fixing wagon wheels. You will find yourself drawn quietly into the daily lives of the town people and also into the feelings Samuel’s half-brother Nels has for Deborah.