You will enter an unforgettable world in The Prophet's Wife. It's a story of fiery faith, love, and emotionally charged drama, all seen through the point of view of Emma Hale. She's a young woman of independent spirit who sees something no one else does in a man who appears one day at her family home: Joseph Smith. Together they changed American history. The writing is richly detailed--this is a novel not to be missed.

Although not a Mormon myself, I’ve always been fascinated by stories of the women who lived through the early years of the religion and culture, and how they endured it. I grew up on books by Ardyth Kennelly, Maurine Whipple, and Laura Kalpakian, maybe because my mother and grandmother had the same fascination.

I wish they were here to read this new novel about Emma Hale Smith. Her love/hate relationship with both her husband and the church he founded ring true in this novel.

I understand that a TV version of this is in the works, and I would be glued to the screen.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Interesting book about the origins of the Mormon church, its prophet, Joseph Smith, and his wife, Emma. I enjoyed learning more about the roots of this religion, although at times I found myself lost in the sequence of events (the story is told from Emma's perspective both after her husband died and during their relationship). I think maybe a timeline and a list of characters (there were many!) would have been helpful to keep track. I found the story to be well-researched, just a little long for my tastes.

I really wanted to like this book because it focused on a subject I knew little about. However, I could not connect with Emma as a character. The story also had some scenes that really made me uncomfortable. Still, I recommend this for those that interested in the wives of religious leaders.

Thank you to William Morrow for the gifted copy of this book sent via NetGalley. This was an incredible historical fiction novel that was well-paced enough it didn't feel like a book that clocks in at nearly 500 pages. It's about Emma Smith, first wife of Joseph Smith, and if a historical fiction novel based on that character sounds remotely interesting to you, you might enjoy this one. I am not Mormon myself, so the founding days of this church was all new information to me, and had me flipping pages to find out what happens next. The characterization of a historical figure that is seen as a prophet was a risky undertaking that I found really well done. Both Emma and Joseph were human and flawed, and seen through the influence of the historical time. I liked that Joseph Smith was a distant enough character from Emma that she is constantly wondering in the same way that we the readers are - it's clear that this man is desperate to believe, but how much of this is truth and how much is something he has convinced himself is true? A powerful read that will have me thinking about it for quite some time!

Another interesting sounding title that I just had to read, featuring Emma Hale Smith, the wife of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church.

While my knowledge of Mormonism is minimal the book provided an interesting look into the founding of the religion, through the eyes of Emma. The character of Joseph is portrayed as less of a con man as he is more typically known in pop culture and more of a flawed character who desperately wants something to believe in. That said, his desperate attempts to gain and maintain power over others are not glossed over, leading up to his untimely death.

I definitely enjoyed the read, but I feel that it will also garner a lot of unpopular reviews. The topic is going to be polarizing, particularly for those who are members of the religion.

A really interesting historical fiction novel that I was excited to read. Grant is a great story teller, building her world and characters precisely, so that the story comes alive in the reader's mind. I was drawn into the world of Emma Smith - felt her joys and her pain and hoped for a different outcome many times during the story.

However, I felt the pace was slow at times and there was definitely some repetition that could have been cut out without impacting the book.


Thank you Net Galley and William Morrow for a chance to read and review the book.

5⭐
I went to high school in California, and my best friend in 9th grade was Mormon. I had many Mormon neighbors and classmates, became familiar with their mission trips, and was even given a Book of Mormon (with a hopeful expression from my best friend). Now, I live about 100 miles from Nauvoo, Illinois, a key early settlement of the Mormons, and where this book, The Prophet’s Wife, ends. I had heard some thoughts/ideas/opinions about the Mormon religion, some stereotypical, some perhaps true. While The Prophet’s Wife is historical fiction, this recounting of Joseph Smith’s life and path to Mormonism, told through the perspective of his first wife, Emma, provides a deep, inside look into the start of this religion.

Libbie Grant is very clear about which portions of this novel are based on truth, and man, is it fascinating! Yes, the author took some liberties for the sake of the plot and pacing; however, the crux of the story is based on true accounts. Historical fiction typically takes me some time to get through, but I hardly wanted to put this book down! I really felt for Emma (the prophet’s wife) right from the start; I connected with her frequently, how she would be thinking logically most of the time, but having those moments of doubt.

I’m curious now to learn more about how things continued in Nauvoo, Illinois; if there are still descendants of Joseph Smith living there; if/how the temple there is still used; and what were the details surrounding Brigham Young bringing Mormons to Utah. (Emma did not have a high opinion of Brigham Young, by the way. Interesting.)

Thank you to @Netgalley, @WilliamMorrowBooks, and @BookClubGirl for the eARC of The Prophet’s Wife #BookClubGirlEarlyRead in exchange for my honest review. Immediately after finishing this advance copy, I bought this book from my mother-in-law, as I knew she would find this interesting (AND she has a sibling that lives in Nauvoo)!

The Prophet's Wife by Libbie Grant is a fascinating work of historical fiction. In it, Grant examines the origins and evolution of Mormonism through the eyes of founder Joseph Smith's first wife, Emma Hall. This is not simply the story of a the birth of a religion, but rather it is about the struggles within a marriage that plays out against the backdrop of faith, power and controversy.

I found the historical information about the early days of the Mormon church to be compelling, informative and well researched. As a lover of historical fiction and biographical fiction in particular, I was impressed with the depth of research that clearly went into the writing of this novel. This enhanced my reading experience because this was a subject that I was not very familiar with and the details about the Mormon religion really helped me to put the story in perspective in a way I would not have otherwise been able to.

What impressed me the most about this novel was the portrayal of the two main characters and how they became a centerpiece of an incredibly dramatic and sympathetic portrayal of a marriage. We see Emma as she struggles with her faith and tries to reconcile her love for her husband as he morphs and his control grows until he ultimately becomes the charismatic and powerful leader of a religion that she no longer recognizes.

When polygamy is added to the tenants of the religion, Smith soon finds himself and their community ostracized and the victims of violence. Emma knows that to save them all and find peace she must convince her husband to surrender, even if that means sacrificing his own life.

I loved this book. Beautifully written, it enthralled me in it's narrative and made me think and question the nature of marriage and unconditional love and faith. I think this would be a great read for Women's History Month. Sometimes the most interesting stories are the quiet ones about the women immersed in important events in history whose stories we never hear.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair revies.

This story is told by the wife of Joseph Smith the founder of Mormonism (Joseph Smith). It takes the reader through the early years of the religious foundations and her skepticism of her husbands religious beliefs along with the tragedies, their constant religious persecution and his marital infidelities she endured. Was an interesting perspective on the early foundation of Mormonism. I felt parts of the novel dragged on a bit and the end seemed rushed but overall it was a fascinating look into a religion I’ve heard of but did not know much about. I always questioned why women would allow men to take multiple wives and this helped give some insight on that aspect.

I know very little about the Mormon faith, but this author is one of my absolute favorites, so I couldn’t wait to dive into it. And of course, it did not disappoint.
Through the lens of Emma Smith, the wife of Joseph Smith “The Prophet”, we are given a glimpse into what life must have been like during the creation of the Mormon religion. From the early years of their marriage, there is a definite disconnect between them - mostly on Emma’s part - due to her apparent disbelief and suspicion of Joseph’s visions and calling.
My heart broke constantly for Emma, who was misused and dealt a truly difficult hand in life. From the loss of several babies at birth and in infancy, to having to endure ridicule and fleeing for her safety and that of her children more than once, she truly was a pillar of strength for her family. She persevered and fought for her family and beliefs, even against her husband (especially in a time where this is was not an acceptable reaction from a wife), whose power and infamy only continued to grow.
The story itself is compelling, but the lyrical writing and beautiful descriptions throughout made this novel unputdownable. It’s lush imagery evokes the settings - the harshness of winter, the humidity of the marshes, the vibrancy of the apple groves. It is truly a masterful work of historical fiction and one I’ll be thinking about for a long time.

Unfortunately, I found the book to be a bit boring. I don't know if it was the original subject matter or how it was written. I will say, I think if you have specific interest in the topics covered you would find this one interesting.

When I heard about this book, I was excited to see where the author would take this story. I wish I could say I was disappointed with the negative tone, but honestly, I almost expected it.
As someone who is familiar with the history of the Mormon church, I found this book to be an appalling misrepresentation of the facts. The author has taken many liberties with the truth including changing locations and order of many events to support her narrative of the truth. This is purely fiction and an anti-Mormon propaganda piece. But considering the author herself is a former member of said religion, I am not surprised with her anti-Mormon sentiments. She has basically fictionalized every piece of anti-Mormon literature out there about Joseph Smith and tried to pass it off as an account of Emma Smith's life. I have to admit, she was so good with her fictional writing, that she came up with things that even the most anti-Mormon people have never said.
So please keep in mind that this is purely fiction that the author is trying to pass off as fact.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC, but I cannot in good conscious recommend this book to anyone who is looking for good historical fiction that has been well thought out and written. I only give this 1 star because Netgalley requires a rating.

The Prophet's Wife is a very interesting historical fiction about Emma Hale Smith, the first wife of Joseph Smith. It was a very informative and fascinating book about the early days of the Mormon Church. I was captivated to learn about the history of the church and it's founders. They went through much adversity in their quest to establish the Church of Latter Day Saints. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this compelling book.

Try as I might, this one is not working for me - now its in the "did not finish" pile, perhaps I'll move back to it after a while. The pace is slow and the characters just did not interest me, seeming too shallow and undeveloped..

The story of the early days of the Mormon religion told through the words of Emma Hale Smith – the Prophet’s wife. Emma was the first wife of the prophet Joseph Smith who founded the Mormon religion. The story chronicles the early days of the founding and spread of Mormonism. It touches on various events that occurred in the course of its turbulent nascent history and also some of its most controversial customs and covenants. I went into this book having only the most vague idea of Mormons and came out curious to read more about it. Also a great look at the concepts of faith, religion, love and community as viewed through the eyes of a woman in the midst of the storm.

Thanks to @netgalley, @bookclubgirl and William Morrow & Company for the ARC.

This story takes you through the early days of the Mormon church as told by Emma, the first wife of the prophet, Joseph Smith. It covers about a 20 year period in the early-mid 1800’s as the church developed in Pennsylvania, then moves to Missouri and Illinois due to violence from the surrounding communities toward their church. Joseph is portrayed as a poor man who believes he can speak directly to God. He founded his own religion using his looks and charismatic personality to captivate and hold thousands of followers while Emma struggles to understand how others cannot see through the facade and wonders what she actually means to her husband. The Mormons become outcasts wherever they go, putting a strain on Joseph’s control and leading him to come up with increasingly strange edicts from God. This culminates with the law allowing men to marry as many celestial wives as they want. This causes a crisis for Emma when Joseph takes another wife but Joseph is also facing a crisis; this crisis from the law and vigilantes so he must surrender or have his entire community threatened.

It was not a book I couldn’t put down. I found the subject matter of the origin of the Mormon church to be quite interesting. However, I struggled with Emma’s lack of conviction in both her marriage and religion. Emma knew from the beginning that Joseph struggled to make moral decisions and that those decisions often served his own purposes, yet she stood by him. The author wrote her to be a strong woman, yet her actions did not always show that to be true. The best example being when she saw her husband’s activities through his shop window yet allowed him to later convince her that she had not seen what she knew to be true.

While the use of flashbacks and flashforwards in a story usually adds to the telling, in this case, it did not. It’s as if the author thought it was a necessary contrivance but it did not seem to serve any purpose. Also, at random times, the author would speak and give voice to what Emma was doing or thinking which interrupted the flow of the book.

Thanks to HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley for the ARC.

#The Prophet’s Wife #NetGalley

I knew very little about the Mormon church so this book was a fun and interesting way to learn about it without feeling overwhelmed or like I was reading their Bible.
It was too long though. Actually I'm not sure if the book was too long or if the long chapters made it feel too long. Either way in places I felt like it dragged and found myself wanting it to be over.
Thank you Netgalley for giving me this book for my honest opinion.

I thought that this book sounded very intriguing when I requested the advanced copy from NetGalley. However, I was unable to get into it. I just found the writing to be boring so it was a did not finish for me, unfortunately.

I received an ARC of the Prophet’s Wife in exchange for an honest review. Under normal circumstances, the title of this book would not be something that I would gravitate towards, but I am so glad that I decided to read it. Although the backdrop of the book is about the establishment of the Mormon religion, it is so much more. This was a truly fascinating story about Emma Smith, the first/original wife of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion. The story sets the foundation for how Joseph and Emma met and eventually married and the whole history of their relationship. It also spans 3 days in Emma’s present, where Joseph is jailed and eventually lives out his final days. As the story builds, the reader will be introduced to numerous individuals who played a role in the creation of the Mormon religion.

At the forefront of it, is Emma Smith, who was a fascinating person with strength and resiliency and played a major role in the overall establishment of the Mormon religion. During her story, we learn of the tragedies she dealt with including the loss of her babies and the estrangement from her parents, who were against her relationship with Joseph. Emma also had to survive the persecution leveled against the Mormons that led to several occasions where she and her family had to flee for their lives to ensure basic survival. Also, she had to handle numerous blows to her marriage including Joseph’s polygamy and the betrayal she experienced from the “other women” in her marriage

Emma was all about protecting her family and the Mormons. Because of that, she was willing to make sacrifices to preserve her marriage and the image of her relationship with Joseph. There were many times that I felt it would have been much easier for Emma to just walk away and live her life without all the drama and chaos/pain associated with Joseph and the establishment of the Mormon religion. However, you just felt that she had a bigger picture in mind and was willing the make the sacrifices necessary for the greater good.

What I loved most about this novel is how it brought to light the importance females played in history and the establishment of a major religious movement that stills exists today.