Review
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Title: In Clouds of Fire
Author: Elaine Stienon
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Genre: Historical Fiction
Year Published: 2004
Number of Pages: 439
Binding: Trade Paperback
ISBN10: 1-4184-4767-6
ISBN13: n/a
Price: $20.95

Reviewed by Tristi Pinkston for the Association for Mormon Letters

People like myself who love Church history tend to read a lot about it, watch a lot of movies about it, enjoy talks in church about it--and we get to the point where we feel like we've heard it all. The most famous incidents in Church history are related over and over again, and when we do happen upon a story that's new to us, we pounce on it like we would a newly mined diamond. We feel the spirit of the Restoration and we are drawn to it, and we are doubly drawn to fresh stories about faithful pioneers we might not yet have met.

In the writings of Elaine Stienon, I've have found a mixture of accounts familiar and unfamiliar, mixed in with stories of fiction. To me, this creates an enjoyable reading experience that satiates my desire for the familiar while feeding my need for something new.

"Clouds of Fire" tells the story of the early Saints during the Kirtland years. We begin our tale by meeting Elizabeth Brighton Manning, a missionary and orator who feels that God has called her to travel the nation and correct those who have wandered off into unfamiliar paths. On this particular journey, she has brought along her niece Hannah, and they are going to visit the Shakers and the Mormonites. The Mormonites are even more deluded than the Shakers, if such a thing could be possible, and they feel strongly to warn the people of the errors of their ways. Hannah is a bit bewildered by her aunt's vehemence, but she's been raised to revere God's word, and she believes that her aunt is following God, so she goes along with it.

When they arrive in Kirtland, they are both shocked to discover that the Mormonites' false prophet is a young, handsome, charming man. This softens Hannah up quite a bit, but only serves to make Elizabeth even more convinced that he is a fraud. Although they attend the Mormon meeting and are well treated by the members, Elizabeth tells Emma Smith that she will do everything she can to spread ill word about the Mormonites wherever she goes. Hannah, on the other hand, has just made the acquaintance of a very pleasant young man named Dan, and she's not sure that these Mormons are as bad as she'd been led to believe.

Thus begins a story of internal conflict, the fight for religious freedom, the search for true love, and above all, the need each person has to seek out a testimony of their own and then decide what they are willing to do to maintain it. We see the story through the eyes of both historical figures and fictional characters alike, and we follow threads of historical fact and fictional plot. In the end, we come out with a better understanding of how the early Saints must have felt, what things they must have suffered, and how their strength and determination saw them through the very worst of persecution and affliction.

I did feel there were areas where the book could have been edited more carefully, and I did find some spots that felt more like a rehashing of facts than a telling of story. However, these two "flaws" didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of the book, and I do recommend it highly.