New Books Network Interview: Linda Hamilton

Many novels start with a “whoa, what must that have been like?” As I discovered early in my latest New Books Network interview with the historian and historical novelist Linda Hamilton, that was very much the case for her debut novel, The Fourth Wife, fresh out from Kensington Books. After years of hearing about her Mormon ancestors, she learned that a grandfather several generations back had wed two sisters. And when she read those sisters’ life stories, they didn’t mention that element of their marital relationship.

Moreover, wedding more than one member of a family wasn’t uncommon in Salt Lake City and the surrounding area in the early 1800s. Supposedly, sisters would feel more comfortable sharing a husband than unrelated women (clearly, the men—and it must have been men—who came up with this idea knew little of sisters). But all that lies far in the past. As a result of Hamilton’s urge to answer her own question, we have a wonderful new Gothic novel to enjoy. How this story of sister wives involves literal sisters becomes obvious only over time, but trust me, it gets there. Meanwhile, enjoy your wander along the path, and listen to our conversation for a discussion of other elements to watch out for.

As usual, the rest of this post comes from New Books in Historical Fiction.

There must be a shift in the Zeitgeist of the publishing world, because after a long drought in Gothic novels, this is the second one I’ve encountered in little more than a month. The Fourth Wife (Kensington, 2026) takes place near Salt Lake City, Utah, during the years when the Mormon community there still practiced polygamy but was coming under increasing pressure from the US government to abandon the practice, pressure that included a law making multiple simultaneous marriages a criminal offense.

It’s 1882. Twenty-year-old Hazel Russon, a talented pianist, has grown up in a polygamous family, but she has a secret agreement with her childhood friend Elijah Crowther that they will become each other’s only spouse once they are permitted to marry. When Elijah’s father, a powerful figure in Salt Lake City society, summons Hazel and informs her that Elijah has rejected her in favor of a return to the fundamental principles of Mormon life—the most fundamental of which is polygamy, known only as the Principle—she is shattered by her love’s betrayal. As a result, she allows Elder Crowther to talk her into becoming the fourth wife of Brother Jacob Manwaring, a wealthy older man who promises Hazel a home of her own, including a piano.

Hazel has long struggled with what most of us in the twenty-first century would categorize as an anxiety disorder, in part caused by the difficulty she has in meeting the extreme demands of her religion for female submissiveness. And although initially attracted to Jacob, she soon discovers that not everything Elder Crowther told her about her husband-to-be was the truth….

It’s all delightfully creepy and fast-paced, and the interactions among Jacob’s wives are even more interesting than those between them and Jacob.