![](https://lesliehoward.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/the-celestial-wife-9781982182403_hr.jpg)
Coming April 9th
A young fundamentalist Mormon girl facing a forced marriage escapes her strict, polygamist community and comes of age in the tumultuous 1960s in this captivating novel inspired by shockingly true events.
Keep sweet no matter what, for this is the way to be lifted up
Keep sweet with every breath, for it is a matter of life or death
1964. Fifteen-year-old Daisy Shoemaker dreams of life beyond her small, isolated fundamentalist Mormon community of Redemption on the Canada—US border—despite Bishop Thorsen’s warning that the outside world is full of sin. According to the Principle, the only way to enter the celestial kingdom is through plural marriage. While the boys are taught to work in the lucrative sawmill that supports their enclave, Daisy and her best friend, Brighten, are instructed to keep sweet and wait for Placement—the day the bishop will choose a husband for them. But Daisy wants to be more than a sister-wife and a mother. So when she is placed with a man forty years her senior, she makes the daring decision to flee Redemption.
Years later, Daisy has a job and a group of trustworthy friends. Emboldened by the ideas of the feminist and counterculture movements, she is freer than she has ever been…until Brighten reaches out with a cry for help and Daisy’s past comes hurtling back. But to save the women she left behind, Daisy must risk her newfound independence and return to Redemption, where hellfire surely awaits.
For readers of Emma Cline’s The Girls and Ami McKay’s The Virgin Cure comes an arresting coming-of-age novel about a fearless young girl’s fight for freedom at a time of great historic change.
![](https://lesliehoward.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/the-celestial-wife-9781982182403_hr.jpg)
Coming April 9th
A young fundamentalist Mormon girl facing a forced marriage escapes her strict, polygamist community and comes of age in the tumultuous 1960s in this captivating novel inspired by shockingly true events.
Keep sweet no matter what, for this is the way to be lifted up
Keep sweet with every breath, for it is a matter of life or death
1964. Fifteen-year-old Daisy Shoemaker dreams of life beyond her small, isolated fundamentalist Mormon community of Redemption on the Canada—US border—despite Bishop Thorsen’s warning that the outside world is full of sin. According to the Principle, the only way to enter the celestial kingdom is through plural marriage. While the boys are taught to work in the lucrative sawmill that supports their enclave, Daisy and her best friend, Brighten, are instructed to keep sweet and wait for Placement—the day the bishop will choose a husband for them. But Daisy wants to be more than a sister-wife and a mother. So when she is placed with a man forty years her senior, she makes the daring decision to flee Redemption.
Years later, Daisy has a job and a group of trustworthy friends. Emboldened by the ideas of the feminist and counterculture movements, she is freer than she has ever been…until Brighten reaches out with a cry for help and Daisy’s past comes hurtling back. But to save the women she left behind, Daisy must risk her newfound independence and return to Redemption, where hellfire surely awaits.
For readers of Emma Cline’s The Girls and Ami McKay’s The Virgin Cure comes an arresting coming-of-age novel about a fearless young girl’s fight for freedom at a time of great historic change.
![](http://lesliehoward.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/praise.png)
Leslie Howard is a welcome new voice with a confident sense of story, place, and destiny in this engaging coming-of-age story.
Anne Giardini, author of <em>The Sad Truth About Happiness</em> and <em>Advice for Italian Boys</em>
Inspired by the history of the British “brideships,” this captivating historical debut tells the story of one woman’s coming of age and search of independence
For readers of Suzanne Desrochers’s <em>Bride of New France</em> and Armando Lucas Correa’s <em>The German Girl.</em>
A beautifully told, meticulously researched story of the little known bride ships and the courageous women on board those shabby crafts who risked everything for freedom then fought to get what they deserved. Debut author Leslie Howard brings history to life by masterfully navigating the social demands of the time, the perilous journey into the unknown, the politics, hazards, and often tragic results of colonization, and the minds and hearts of those bridging both.
Genevieve Graham, Goodreads
A welcome insight into the neglected history of the marriageable women sent from England to the colonies. The protagonist, Charlotte, is a true heroine. A spellbinding read. Wonderfully suspenseful, right to the satisfying ending.
Roberta Rich, bestselling author of <em>The Midwife of Venice</em>
An enthralling story of a woman who leaves class-stratified, nineteenth century London society for the distant west coast of Canada, where our protagonist, Charlotte, hopes to find a husband, but through Howard’s incredible research, we experience numerous aspects of the new world. Charlotte’s concern for justice gives the story a refreshing, revisionist feel. A thoroughly enjoyable read.
Suzanne Desrochers, bestselling author of <em>Bride of New France</em>