Gabriel’s Daughter by Janet Jensen
I loved this book so much that I read it in three days. It is about the life of a young girl that could be anyone in today’s world; but it happened to a young innocent girl who was brought up in a polygamist family. She is a normal, inquisitive sixteen year old who likes to draw and daydream about the perfect life, but her life is not perfect.
Her name is Zina and at sixteen, she is still in school which is unusual in Gabriel’s Landing, most girls her age are already married, pregnant or have a child; but her father saw something special in Zina and wanted her to have a good education. Even though a husband, a man who is twice her age, has been chosen for her; he is reluctant to tell her. Zina lives in Gabriel’s Landing, a polygamist community, with her Father, Mother, two sister wives or aunts as the children call them and sixteen siblings.
Zina’s life changes drastically when she is befriended by a teacher in the Gentile school she was attending. She falls in love and believes she has met the man of her dreams; but his motives are not honorable and when she realizes she is pregnant with his child she is filled with hope of a future with him. Before she can surprise him with her news he tells her he is moving to take a position at another school and leaving her behind.
Thinking life is over for her in Gabriel’s Landing, Zina does the only thing she believes she can, even though it means the loss of her family and the only life she has known since birth. She embarks on a journey that brings with it sorrow, pain, love and acceptance; a journey that will eventually take her full circle to her past and a future that she thought impossible.
I believe this book has earned five stars. The characters are believable and touch your heart in ways that will make you rethink what you thought you knew about polygamists and Mormons. It is easy to judge beliefs that are different from your own, but we tend to forget about the people themselves. Who they are and how they contribute to the community around them. Through Zina’s eyes you will see the truth of unconditional love, no matter the race, creed or religion; and through all of the people she encountered there was a lesson that shaped the person she will become.
