Barbara Townsend

Blood Atonement Barbara Townsend

Missouri Territory, 1846: Driven by angry mobs, thousands of Latter-day Saints flee their homes in the eastern United States. They gather west of the Missouri River to wait out the winter and hope they survive hunger and disease. A church leader unveils a shocking, divine revelation to teenage sisters Aveline and Frances Bowmore: they must marry married men. The specter of polygamy promises heaven. Aveline and Frances feel compelled to obey. They become plural wives. The loss of each other's support while faced with angry sister-wives and husbands they'd just met stretches their willpower to the breaking point. Aveline's world shatters when gentle Frances is brutally strangled. Grief-stricken, Aveline trusts the camp police chief to find the pious Mormon's killer, but the chief stalls his investigation. She presses him and Frances' husband for answers. Aveline's husband orders her to cease-how dare she question men? Time is running out to discover the truth about Frances's murder. Spring approaches and the Saints prepare for the overland journey west to Zion. Aveline quietly defies her husband. She discovers secrets of powerful men-secrets they don't want revealed.