Review
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Title: Torn by God, A Family’s Struggle with Polygamy : a Novel
Author: Zoe Murdock
Publisher: H.O.T. Press
Genre: Fiction
Year Published: 2009
Number of Pages: 299
Binding: Paperback
ISBN10: 0-923178-06-6
ISBN13: 978-0-923178-06-2
Price: $16.99

Reviewed by Gabi Kupitz

Chapter one of the novel Torn by God starts with this introduction: “…I saw a pillar of light directly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.” (Joseph Smith History 1:16). For Latter-day Saints, this scripture illuminates the events leading up to the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, in this novel, an ominous foreshadowing of things-going-badly is triggered by this scripture reference as 12-year-old Beth Sterling then watches her father, minus his clothes, including his “sacred temple garments,” standing in a creek of some substantial water. When the concerned Beth grabs his arm asking why he would do what he did in venturing into the creek, naked, he replies, “It was…I had…a vision.”

Beth’s mother finds it hard to believe in her husband’s account of a vision. However, the excommunicated polygamist Brother Reuben believes Brother Sterling’s account. What follows is a descent into a chasm filled with characters and situations that align to separate the Sterling family, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. While Brother Sterling associates with polygamists, his wife takes a stand. Her stand is not for polygamy as her husband would wish. All of this wrangling back and forth on the part of the parents does a number on Beth and her younger brother. Beth is too young to understand everything happening between her parents, but when her father’s absences become longer, it is up to Beth to keep the family together. It also convinces Beth to ask a lot of questions including having her friend Tommy show her where babies come from.

The writing is crisp. There is a wonderful mix of dialogue and text. I found some of the characters somewhat stereotyped: Brother Reuben is a self-righteous man with leering eyes possessing the aura of some devilish person. Sister Bradford, in bearing her testimony, “always put her hand down inside her dress and rubbed the top of her breast…” (p. 34). I found the sacrament meeting scene where Brother Sterling “comes clean” (chapter 35) a bit of a stretch.

This novel pulls the reader into the plight of those caught up in polygamy as well as the wavering souls on the cusp of decision-making. I found this a hard read, in part, because some members of The Church are portrayed in a mawkish and disrespectful manner. On the other hand, the author points out how fanaticism is so destructive. As members of The Church, do we really keep our eye on the living prophet? In the end, remembering that this is a work of fiction, I hope all things will work out for the Sterling family, and especially, young Beth.