TY - BOOK ID - 78108867 TI - Elder Northfield's Home : or, Sacrificed on the Mormon Altar, a story of the Blighting Curse of Polygamy AU - Switzer, Jennie Bartlett AU - Tonkovich, Nicole PY - 2015 SN - 0803274068 080327405X 9780803274051 9780803271845 0803271840 9780803274068 9780803274075 PB - Lincoln, Nebraska ; London, England : University of Nebraska Press, DB - UniCat KW - RELIGION / Christianity / Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). KW - SOCIAL SCIENCE / Women's Studies. KW - FICTION / Literary. KW - Polygamy KW - Marriage KW - Mormons KW - Utah KW - Brighamite Mormons KW - Church of Christ (Temple Lot) members KW - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints members KW - Church of Jesus Christ (Strangites) members KW - Hedrikites KW - Josephite Mormons KW - Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints members KW - Reorganized Mormons KW - RLDS Mormons KW - Strangite Mormons KW - Temple Lot Mormons KW - Utah Mormons KW - Christians KW - Latter Day Saints UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:78108867 AB - "Nineteenth-century novel that advocates the abolition of plural marriage in the Mormon religion and the repatriation of former practitioners by tracing the marital misfortunes of a Mormon convert"-- "The practice of plural marriage, commonly known as polygamy, stirred intense controversy in postbellum America until 1890, when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints first officially abolished the practice. Elder Northfield's Home, published by A. Jennie Bartlett in 1882, is both a staunchly antipolygamy novel and a call for the sentimental repatriation of polygamy's victims. Her book traces the fate of a virtuous and educated English immigrant woman, Marion Wescott, who marries a Mormon elder, Henry Northfield. Shocked when her husband violates his promise not to take a second wife, Marion attempts to flee during the night, toddler son in her arms, pulling her worldly possessions in his toy wagon. She returns to her husband, however, and the balance of the novel traces the effects of polygamy on Marion, Henry, and their children; their eventual rejection of plural marriage; and their return to a normal and healthy family structure. Nicole Tonkovich's critical introduction includes both historical contextualization and comments on selected primary documents, providing a broader look at the general public's reception of the practice of polygamy in the nineteenth century. "-- ER -