Red Water By Judith Freeman Pantheon Books, January 2002. Hardcover: 324 pages. ISBN: 0-375-42092-4 Suggested retail price: $24.00 (US)
Reviewed by: Tom Johnson

The mountain meadows massacre has been somewhat of an obsession lately among writers. Freeman tells the story of the massacre's aftermath from three of Lee's polygamous wives. What draws Freeman on is the mystery behind the wives' fidelity to Lee. What kept these women in the willful clutches of a man who was not only a murderer, but also a pedofile, thief, religious healer and a friend to the Indians? What was it about John Lee that was so persuasive as to keep a dozen wives and attract more each year? Freeman's narrative suggests several answers, each a different one for the three wives ' perspectives she explores.

For Emma, it is his charisma and his magnetism, but mostly his sex. The shimmering light that he is able to give to the virgin woman compels her to love him. Almost every personal interaction with Emma involves him undressing and making her drift off to that far region where the light shimmers. He is a sexual bull. It is not only the sexual tension that moves the Emma section along, but also the conundrum of the Emma's faith. One reads in anticipation of the day when she will realize that her husband is a liar, murderer, and deceptive human being who only represses her in an elaborate harem that offers her daily psychological trauma. When will she wake up? The reader turns the pages eagerly. He can't believe Emma's naivete, gullibility. Can't she see? Why doesn't she leave? The answer: Lee loves her, and she loves him.

Unfortunately Freeman switches protagonists instead of sticking with Emma's character. The second section, "Ann," Lee's thirteen-year-old bride, reads like a Cormac Mccarthy knock off and is mostly a chase scene for a horse with bits and pieces of Ann remembering John Lee. The section (which is relatively short) seems like it belongs in a different book. Freeman does manage, however, to capture the spirit of the Utah terrain with it. Ann's reason for marrying Lee is adventure. Being his polygamous wife was just one adventure and she planned to have many, she explains. But her adventure with Lee leaves her robbed of her youth.

The last section, "Rachel," consists of pioneer journal entries, which are tiresome to read at first but which pick up pace near the end. Rachel marries John so she could remain close to her sister Agatha, who also married John (as well as her mother). Rachel develops into a strong character near the end, but her strength is only in stubborn fanaticism and denial of Lee's reality.

The book immerses one of the crazy world that was Mormonism in the 19 century, with Brigham Young as the fat commanding king, the blood atonement, the old temple ceremonies, the child brides. Though the central act of the book is the mountain meadows massacre, the intimate perspective from these three wives before and after the massacre give the book freshness and make it more about the women than Lee. Ultimately the book celebrates the fierce, fighting spirit of women and subverts any ideas about polygamous wives as sheep. The characters are powerfully rendered and the narrative voices remain in one's head long after the final page is turned. Judith Freeman is a particularly insightful writer about Mormon culture.

Tom