The Fourth Wife

My debut novel, THE FOURTH WIFE, is available now for preorder! Plus Barnes & Noble Preorder Sale code.

In 1872, my great-great-great grandfather, George Kirkham, married his first wife, Mary Russon. Three years later in 1875, he married Mary’s natural sister, Sara Russon, as a second polygamist wife. The three of them lived together for decades. Mary and Sara bore him twenty-two children. Mary went on the Mormon Underground to hide from federal officials for practicing polygamy. Eventually George went to jail for his crime of bigamy.

George was a musician, artist, and woodworker. He worked on the Salt Lake temple and built the stairs that lead to the Holy of Holies in the Celestial Room. Family histories are full of his art, his accomplishments, and stories of his life. He wrote several autobiographies, though they barely mention his wives.

Mary and Sara also wrote brief autobiographies. Neither of them mention that their sister was also married to their husband.

George’s story is loud and full. Their joint grave features himself as the central figure, his wives flanking him and their names small on the stone. They are only listed as “his family.” Even in death, these women have no identity outside of their husband.

When I first discovered Mary and Sara on my family tree, I felt a pull toward them. I wanted to hear their voice, read of their lives. I was disappointed to find their short memoirs were so sparse. I learned that this was typical of Mormon women in the 19th century. Journals and memoirs were often treated as testimonies rather than honesties. Women were directly and indirectly taught in Relief Societies to not discuss polygamy even in their own writings unless they were positive and faith-building. So many women were silent on plural marriage, unable to share true feelings for fear of being disloyal to the church and the Principle. Other women might have been unable to write about it either way, the trauma and pains too much to pen.

I ached for Mary and Sara. For all my polygamist foremothers who were silenced or censored themselves, allowing their own stories to be swallowed up in the monster of plural marriage. Like Heavenly Mother, I yearned to understand them, know them.

So I wrote.

In 2022, I wrote THE FOURTH WIFE, a historical Gothic book based on the extensive research I conducted on polygamy. I based characters and plot points on real stories and experiences of women. I forged my main character with my own experiences with anxiety and religious trauma. At its heart, this book became a feminist story of women fighting patriarchy and religious oppression.

It took years of hard work and so so many revisions, but THE FOURTH WIFE finally sold to Kensington Books in 2024. It will hit bookshelves on March 31, 2026. (Publishing moves very slow; there’s a lot of steps behind the scenes.) As of this week, it’s finally available for preorder at all major book retailers. I am SO excited to share this story with you!

Preorders are a critical part of the book sale process these days. Retailers like Barnes and Noble watch preorder numbers and decide what books they will carry based on them. That means if a book has more preorders, it’s more likely to be ordered by individual stores and be available on bookshelves. Books without many preorders will most likely not be available in physical stores. Books on shelves means greater access for more readers. Having my book on bookshelves is also a huge personal dream of mine since childhood.

This week, 7/8-7/11, Barnes and Noble is having their big preorder sale. This is an excellent time to preorder a copy; you’ll help a debut author and help yourself save money. Use code PREORDER25 at checkout. You can go here to find my book.

It means SO much to me to see the support for my book across different platforms, with friends, family, and acquaintances! It feels surreal knowing that others can now read my words and that soon THE FOURTH WIFE will be in the hands of readers all over. If you’re interested in this book, a preorder would mean a lot to me! Sharing with your own circles is also an amazing way to support. The more successful my debut book is, the more opportunities I will have to write more books in my Mormon historical fiction niche too.

Thank you for the bottom of my heart for reading and being on this journey with me!

Full description of THE FOURTH WIFE:

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas meets “Sister Wives” in a deliciously chilling, darkly romantic, historical gothic horror with a feminist slant, as a young Mormon woman is haunted by a malevolent presence in the decrepit Salt Lake City mansion she shares with her new husband and his other wives…

Hazel Russon’s life in 1879 Utah territory is defined by three things: the Mormon church, polygamy, and the men who control both. She knows she’s supposed to suppress her sinful dreams of a monogamous life with her sweetheart, and her desire for the freedom to play her beloved piano. Every Mormon woman’s duty is to live obediently and meekly, devoted to her husband and her calling as a sister wife. Her eternal salvation depends upon it.

Commanded to become the fourth wife of a man she’s never met, Hazel is relieved that Jacob Manwaring is attentive and handsome. However, she is shocked to discover that instead of living separately as is custom, all of Jacob’s wives and children live in the same house—a large, dilapidated manor that inexplicably fills Hazel with dread.

Despite Jacob’s tenderness, Hazel senses dark secrets and resentments among her sister wives. She hears strange music, sees blood oozing from the very walls, and glimpses apparitions that grow more terrifying every day. And as her nightmares worsen, Hazel can’t be sure if she has more to fear from the living—including her mysterious husband—or from a sinister presence that seems to animate the house itself . . .

Drawing on little-known Mormon folklore and the author’s own polygamous ancestors, this fascinating, suspense-filled historical novel debut is by turns darkly romantic, spine-tingling, and wholly unforgettable.