Variation west

Ardyth Kennelly's brilliant last novel spans four generations of a family in Mormon Utah, from the 1860s to the 1960s. Two fictional daughters of John D. Lee, notorious for his role in the 1857 Mountain Meadows massacre, and their descendants experience the changing eras of Western life and history. The book is a colorful procession of comic and tragic stories--of domestic life, historical events and personages, and superbly drawn characters. On a deeper level, the author illustrates the continuity of time and life, the effects of fanaticism, and the destructive power of social ideals of female beauty.