Favorite Wife, Susan Ray Schmidt
Favorite Wife, Susan Ray Schmidt
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
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Favorite Wife
Escape From Polygamy

Author: Susan Ray Schmidt

Narrator: Susan Ericksen

Unabridged: 22 hr 1 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/27/2018


Synopsis

She had no choice in the matter—none of the girls did. Her mission was to give birth to and raise many children in devoted service to a shared husband. Susan was fifteen years old when she became the sixth wife of Verlan LeBaron, one of the leaders of a rogue Mormon cult, who was engaged in a blood feud with his brother that from 1972 to 1988 claimed up to two dozen lives.

In this gripping and eloquent book, Susan Ray Schmidt tells the story of growing up on the inside and of her ultimate escape with her children from an oppressive and violent life. Delving more deeply into this mysterious underworld than any previous work, Favorite Wife is a powerful account of the affairs of the heart, coming of age under exceptional circumstances, and the tough choices that are sometimes painfully necessary to preserve human dignity.

Susan Ray Schmidt was once a member of the Church of the Firstborn of the Fullness of Times and the child-bride of polygamist Verlan LeBaron in Colonia LeBaron in Mexico. After eight years of marriage, she left her husband and fled with her five children back to America. She remarried three years later.

About Susan Ray Schmidt

Susan Ray Schmidt is the author of Favorite Wife: Escape from Polygamy and His Favorite Wife: Trapped in Polygamy.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Beth

Sadly, while this story is remarkable, the writing is not. Susan Ray Schmidt's account of her life as part of Colonia LeBaron, plural-wife to one of the infamous LeBaron brothers, has all the elements of a juicy memoir. She is right in the midst of the warring fundamentalist polygamist communities,......more

This book has been on my radar for a while, but I wasn't sure when I'd get to it. I decided to push it up my tbr when I saw Susan Ray Schmidt in a documentary on ID several months ago. I think (but don't quote me on that) it was a documentary about the blood attonement murders and she was featured i......more

Goodreads review by Melanie

I really enjoyed this book. From the minute I opened it up I could not put it down. I stayed up way too late at night because I wanted to see what was going to happen next. I would often find myself just thinking about this girl and her life and was eager until I could sit down next and read what wa......more

Goodreads review by Ashley

This is the true story of a woman's experience of being the "favorite wife" of her fundamentalist mormon polygamist husband. It was pretty eye opening for me to see what it's like to live in a fundamentalist community with religious leaders who claim to be receiving personal revelation from God on a......more