Back on Track

New reviews coming soon! I'll be importing my work from the past two years, but in the meantime,
I'm reclaiming my small place on the web.

Wednesday, August 8, 2001

Fiction Review

Sisterwife
by Natalie Collins
ISBN-10: 1894942256
Review by Heather Froeschl



I have never read anything quite like Natalie R Collin's SisterWife. There is something about the subject of polygamy that made me want to remain unaware. As if not knowing the details of people who live this way would make it not exist. The tragic drama that played out in Waco, Texas some years back was something like that to me. The public was witness to this event in great detail and even then I can remember feeling like I just didn't want to know all of the gory details. Call me cruel and cold, but I was just being human. Natalie opens up the world of a fictional religious cult for all of the world to see.

Kelsey is the young mother of Tia, a seven year old girl with a spitfire soul. Kelsey is pretty strong willed herself, having run away from a life of hell, ten years past. California was not far enough away from Utah, where she had suffered the abuse and molestation her father felt was his rightful path to take. She had run when her father proclaimed that she would marry the prophet, she would be a part of God's plan, she would be sold so that her father could play an important role in the Church of the Lamb of God.

California was indeed not far enough away, and Kelsey's daughter Tia would become another victim of the prophecy. Kidnapped by the cult, under the prophet's plan, Tia became the bait to draw Kelsey back. With the help of Quinn, a police detective, Kelsey would face her past, in order to save her daughters future. Along the way we are witness to the truth that was Kelsey's nightmarish childhood, through well-executed flashbacks and then through Kelsey's confidences in Quinn. Here we are given a better understanding of how people take what they wish from religion, in this case, being Mormon, twisting and morphing those beliefs and creating what can become a dangerous cult.

SisterWife is a page turner, full of fear, suspense, appalling circumstance, a wickedly evil puzzle to figure through, a bit of pure eroticism and an amazing look at the human psyche. The author is well informed of the true Mormon religion and takes great pains to emphasize that the fictional Church of the Lamb of God is not such. She has shed light on what is sometimes ugly to look at, but is so necessary for us to understand today. Natalie has created characters that breathe and cry, hold their breath in terror, pray for an answer and sigh at the thought of loving ecstasy. Through it all we are witness to the authors deep understanding of human relationships and feelings.

The author is an excellent storyteller. I recommend this title to anyone wanting to stay up late reading. You won't be able to put it down. I look forward to reading more of this authors work.