The "Leah" referred to in the title is the Leah of the Old Testament, the same Leah married off to Jacob before he could be married to his beloved Rachel. The "Shadow" is the continuing influence that first wives have on husbands, children, and sister-wives in the Mormon polygamy story.

The tale opens with John Glendrake, a Mormon farmer in pre-Manifesto days, being urged by his bishop to take a second wife. John is reluctant; he's very much in love with his wife, Catherine, and doesn't want to hurt her. When, however, he receives her permission to take a second wife, he marries Sheila, a women to whom he is very much attracted.

The two women develop a loving relationship, but Catherine realizes that, however much she tries, she cannot share her husband with another woman. She blames neither John nor Sheila, but rather herself, for her lack of faith, and her church, for making such a demand on its women.

When a federal marshal comes to town to prosecute the "cohabs," John feels he has no choice but to flee to Mexico. He wants both wives to come with him, but Catherine insists on staying in Utah, raising their children, and freeing John to pursue his marriage with Sheila.

The author is the product of a polygamous background, and thus has some familiarity with the subject. There is much here to interest the reader -- some good insights into the difficulties that accompanied the polygamy lifestyle.

And here is where some of the tension really comes to the surface. There is little indication as to whether the author approves of the lifestyle. The conflict is enfleshed in the person of Catherine. She knows in her heart that this is wrong, that a man should have only one wife. But she also believes that the Church's teaching is true, and must be obeyed. She sublimates her own feelings and chooses the path of obedience.

I could sense no pro- or anti-polygamy agenda in this book. It reads very much like a family chronicle, detailing the lives of its protagonists, reporting as would an objective reporter observing the story, delving only rarely into the actors' inner thoughts about the practice.

One of the problems in this book is that I couldn't quite figure out in what direction it was headed. As a rule, a work of fiction will propel the reader from one setting to the next with a bit of intrigue, a plot twist, something to keep your interest. Instead, Moon relies on an ongoing interest in the larger story to keep you reading. This is chancy stuff, and risks losing the attention of the reader.

I'm glad I read it all the way through. At the end, we discover the ultimate aim of the story. And the ending is very satisfactory; it ties together disparate elements of the story and provides a framework, if only in retrospect, for the tale.

In short, this is one book I enjoyed less during the reading than I did when thinking back on the story. The intensity of the last 40 pages or so supplies a timely and gripping ending to a rather ordinary tale, and makes the reading of the book worthwhile.

Perhaps it was Moon's intention to present a story of a polygamous family in terms of normalcy and familial love, rather than the sensationalistic tomes that have come from the presses. Is there really such a thing as a "normal" polygamous family? Can there be real love between a man and two women, and can the women learn to love and accept each other? This is a side of the plural marriage story that is not often told.

This book will be of interest to those with a curiosity about the practice of polygamy in early Mormonism. It will offer up a view of such families not often presented in modern literature. And, in the end, it will satisfy the reader with a compelling denouement, a testament to the pioneer spirit.

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Jeff Needle
September 13, 2004