Book Reviews

Escape, by Carloyn Jessop

This book is about a woman that escaped a polygamist colony. She was married at 18 to a powerful man in the FLDS church 32 years older than her. This book tells about her life in the FLDS church and the changes that gradually happened as Warren Jeffs gained more and more power, making the church more and more radical. Like not wearing the color red or "loud prints", not having anything red in possession at all. Also all the public schools were closed and no "worldly" reading material or media was allowed. Boys they called "the lost boys" were kicked out of the FLDS church for as little as listening to a CD or accused of being gay, all because they didn't have any use for many men in the FLDS. Some of these boys were only 12 years old and dumped off on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. The first chapter of this book details her actual escape. The only time she can get away is 5am, she has to gather her 8 kids together while the other wives are demanding what she is doing and calling their husband who is out of town. If the police are called, she would be stopped since all the police are FLDS. She manages to get all her kids in the van even after one of her daughters puts up a fight, and drives toward a gas station where she is to meet her brother who will take her to Salt Lake City. Her van runs out of gas just within sight of the gas station and she has to run the rest of the way. The rest of the book is full of unbelievable experiences. This book is very good and is interesting to read about the culture of Polygamists.

The Boleyn Inheritance, by Philippa Gregory

This book follows Anne of Cleaves (King Henry VIII's 4th wife), Katherine Howard (the 5th wife, and cousin to Anne Boleyn), and Jane Boleyn (the wife of George Boleyn, Anne Boleyn's brother). The book reads like the diaries of the three women and follow Anne as she leads a difficult life in Cleaves and becomes Queen of England only to have Henry have the marriage annulled so that he can marry Katherine who is only 15 years old. Jane serves as a spy for her uncle in law while she is lady in waiting for both queens. Events eventually lead to Jane and Katherine getting the Boleyn inheritance, which is the same fate as Anne Boleyn, the executioners axe. Anne of Cleaves barely escapes with her neck. This book is kind of silly because I listened to the audio and it was funny to have the people reading it do the different voices for each character. The character Katherine is silly at parts because she is supposed to be 15 years old and is pretty immature. This isn't as good as The Other Boleyn Girl but is better than The Constant Princess, it's an okay book but not my favorite. There is also sexual content.