Book Description
An impressive work of literary fiction
that accurately explores the struggles of being raised in a
polygamous community. Jensen’s novel explores the unique strengths
and weaknesses of the bonds in a polygamous family.
Gabriel's
Daughters wrestles with issues of polygamy, homosexuality, and
modernity through the lives of the large, loving, and polygamous
Martin family. The story is told primarily through the eyes of Zina
Martin, a young girl who, upon discovering she is impregnated by her
"sterile" teacher—and will soon be married off to a man
three times her age— escapes the enclosed polygamous town of
Gabriel's Landing, Utah.
Zina then embarks on a journey full of
self-discovery, yet she can never completely escape the longing she
has for her family and even the controversial and outdated lifestyle
she once lived. Through both tears and triumph, Jensen has crafted a
moving story that not only acts as insightful social commentary but
also prompts readers to reevaluate their lives.
Buy Links:
Amazon: http://amzn.com/1939967198
Snippet
Chapter 1
One
meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it.
—French Proverb
Gabriel’s Landing, Utah
She
closed her eyes and let her senses absorb it all—the
chirping of fat robins, the dizzying scent of lilacs, the feel of cool, prickly
blades of grass under her fingers, and the dull thudding sound of a soccer ball
being kicked from player to player, accompanied by words of encouragement, all
under the kind warmth of the sun. Zina inhaled deeply, emptying her mind of
algebra, English literature, P.E. and tomorrow’s
history test, filling it instead with thoughts, sounds, and smells of spring.
She sensed a shadow between herself and the sun and opened
her eyes. A man stood above her. Shading her eyes with her hand, she squinted
at him. He was golden, she thought, automatically assigning him a color, for
the sun behind him cast its rays on his light hair, fair skin, blue eyes, and
tall, athletic build.
“Oh!” She sat up, pulling her long skirts
modestly over her ankles. A deep blush crept up her cheeks. “I
didn’t
know anyone was here.”
Excerpted
from GABRIEL’S DAUGHTERS by JANET KAY JENSEN. Copyright © 2015 by JANET KAY
JENSEN. Excerpted by permission of JOLLY FISH PRESS, LLC. All
rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Official Launch Party: Gabriel's Daughter by Janet Jensen
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About
the Author
Janet
Jensen leads a quiet life in a college town nestled in the foothills
of the northern edge of the Wasatch Mountains. She and her husband
Miles, an attorney, met as members of Utah State University’s
Intercollegiate Debate Team and are parents of three grown sons: a
soccer enthusiast/physician in Salt Lake City, Utah; an exercise
physiologist/football coach/graduate student in Jyvaskyla, Finland;
and a skydiver/embedded systems engineer in Berkeley, California. The
Jensens have happily become grandparents of four.
Janet
is co-author of a literature-based cookbook, The
Book Lover’s Cookbook: Recipes Inspired by Great Works of
Literature and the Passages that Feature Them
(Wenger & Jensen, Ballantine, 2003), and an award-winning novel,
Don’t
You Marry the Mormon Boys
(Bonneville Books, 2007), which won a gold medal for Cultural Fiction
in the Readers Favorite International Book Awards Contest.
Her
work also appears in Parables
for Today
(Cedar Fort, 2012) and Gruff
Variations
(Writing for Charity, 2012). Baking
Day,
a personal essay, placed second in the 2011 national essay/memoir
contest sponsored by The
Writer
Magazine and Gotham Writers Workshops.
Janet
holds degrees in Speech-Language Pathology from Utah State University
and Northwestern University and worked in educational settings for
more than twenty years.
A
retired soccer mom, Cub Scout leader and PTA president, she is a now
a full-time writer and a literacy tutor who feels genuine panic when
she is stranded without something to read. Janet welcomes
correspondence with readers.
She can be reached at
janetkayjensen@gmail.com
and on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/JanetKayJensenAuthor?fref=ts.
She maintains a website at her website at www.janetjensen.com,
and an author page at GoodReads.
She tweets as JanetKJensen and blogs
at www.janetkayjensen.blogspot.com.
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