Have we ever even had any “capital-L Literary” Mormon fiction on the national stage? This is the question my younger brother asked me as we drove home from the airport on a Sunday morning, drowsy from a 6:00 am flight and a little loopy from low-blood sugar. It took a few pulls of the rip-cord to restart my brain. I think my first answer was, “Huh?”
This seems like as good a spot as any to start building a bibliography of favorites. I'll start with three novels I admire:
A Little Lower than the Angels by Virginia Sorensen (1942) --- a novel of Nauvoo with all the triumphs and tragedies and probably my favorite prose rendition of Joseph Smith
Love Letters of the Angels of Death by Jennifer Quist (2013) --- only a couple cues prove the central couple to be LDS but in my mind this is perhaps the finest description of a Latter-day Saint marriage I've ever read
The Tragedy of King Leere, Goatherd of the la Sals by Steven L. Peck (2019) --- a postapocalyptic reimagining narrated by a demon exploring what a future version of our faith might entail
Ugh, I always hate narrowing down my favorites. So I'll share the three I've read most recently and been very impressed by:
The Freezer by Ben Spendlove was haunting. The whole first half of the book was so incredibly hard to read because the situation felt so real to me (a parent in this time of doomsdays clocks). The story tackles really hard problems, like how to have faith and hope when you know the end of the world is coming.
Future Day Saints series by Matt Page. Guys. This series is so weird. It's sort of a kids book, but also, sort of not? It's filled with deep thoughts about what the future of our religion could look like, but it's wrapped in these neat little futuristic, spiritual, superhero-like stories (broken up by coloring pages, in case you get bored). This series deserves the hour of your time it takes to read.
***I'm cheating now, but everyone should read Just Julie's Fine by Theric Jepson as soon as it comes out. No spoilers here, but there's so much to love about this little book. Keep an eye out for it!
Oct 7, 2023·edited Oct 7, 2023Liked by Jeanine Bee
Big agreement on Theric's "Just Julie's Fine", maybe the great BYU novel. I'm ready to start trumpeting about it if the darn thing would ever be released. Thanks for the heads-up on Spendlove's The Freezer, you pushed it up my list!
I strongly agree with all three of these. Sorensen's novels are world class, they don't feel dated at all. And Jennifer Quist and Steven L. Peck are among the best Mormon authors writing today (I like Steven's "Heike's Void" and "Gilda Trillim: Shepherdess of Rats" a tick better than King Leere.
Oct 7, 2023·edited Oct 7, 2023Liked by Jeanine Bee
I'll add:
Maurine Whipple, "The Giant Joshua" (1940). Whipple was not as disciplined or consistent as Sorensen, but she was unmatched in getting inside the souls of the Mormon pioneer generation.
Tim Wirkus. "City of Brick and Shadow" (2014). A great but unconventional mystery, mixing a mystery plot with Mormon missionaries in Holmes and Watson roles, with unanswerable "mysteries" and mythic elements.
I also think short fiction is a great place to start. A few titles that stick with me are Stephen Carter’s “Slippery,” Katherine Cowley’s “The Five-Year Journal,” Virginia Sorenson’s “Where Nothing is Long Ago,” and Orson Scott Card’s “Salvage.”
For novels, also tossing in Angela Hallstrom’s Bound on Earth. I like the ensemble structure a lot. Recently read John Bennion’s Ruth at the End of the Earth and really enjoyed it.
A good place to start is the Association for Mormon Letters' 100 Works of Significant Mormon Literature. https://www.associationmormonletters.org/2022/07/aml-100-significant-mormon-literature-works/
Levi Peterson's The Backslider
cowboy Jesus!
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This seems like as good a spot as any to start building a bibliography of favorites. I'll start with three novels I admire:
A Little Lower than the Angels by Virginia Sorensen (1942) --- a novel of Nauvoo with all the triumphs and tragedies and probably my favorite prose rendition of Joseph Smith
Love Letters of the Angels of Death by Jennifer Quist (2013) --- only a couple cues prove the central couple to be LDS but in my mind this is perhaps the finest description of a Latter-day Saint marriage I've ever read
The Tragedy of King Leere, Goatherd of the la Sals by Steven L. Peck (2019) --- a postapocalyptic reimagining narrated by a demon exploring what a future version of our faith might entail
Tag. You're it.
Ugh, I always hate narrowing down my favorites. So I'll share the three I've read most recently and been very impressed by:
The Freezer by Ben Spendlove was haunting. The whole first half of the book was so incredibly hard to read because the situation felt so real to me (a parent in this time of doomsdays clocks). The story tackles really hard problems, like how to have faith and hope when you know the end of the world is coming.
Future Day Saints series by Matt Page. Guys. This series is so weird. It's sort of a kids book, but also, sort of not? It's filled with deep thoughts about what the future of our religion could look like, but it's wrapped in these neat little futuristic, spiritual, superhero-like stories (broken up by coloring pages, in case you get bored). This series deserves the hour of your time it takes to read.
***I'm cheating now, but everyone should read Just Julie's Fine by Theric Jepson as soon as it comes out. No spoilers here, but there's so much to love about this little book. Keep an eye out for it!
Big agreement on Theric's "Just Julie's Fine", maybe the great BYU novel. I'm ready to start trumpeting about it if the darn thing would ever be released. Thanks for the heads-up on Spendlove's The Freezer, you pushed it up my list!
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Thanks, Jeanine!
(and I verrry deliberately didn't use the word 'favorites' because I feel the exact same way)
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Oh wait I DID use the word favorites! What the heck is wrong with me.....
I strongly agree with all three of these. Sorensen's novels are world class, they don't feel dated at all. And Jennifer Quist and Steven L. Peck are among the best Mormon authors writing today (I like Steven's "Heike's Void" and "Gilda Trillim: Shepherdess of Rats" a tick better than King Leere.
I'll add:
Maurine Whipple, "The Giant Joshua" (1940). Whipple was not as disciplined or consistent as Sorensen, but she was unmatched in getting inside the souls of the Mormon pioneer generation.
Tim Wirkus. "City of Brick and Shadow" (2014). A great but unconventional mystery, mixing a mystery plot with Mormon missionaries in Holmes and Watson roles, with unanswerable "mysteries" and mythic elements.
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Love both those.
I also think short fiction is a great place to start. A few titles that stick with me are Stephen Carter’s “Slippery,” Katherine Cowley’s “The Five-Year Journal,” Virginia Sorenson’s “Where Nothing is Long Ago,” and Orson Scott Card’s “Salvage.”
For novels, also tossing in Angela Hallstrom’s Bound on Earth. I like the ensemble structure a lot. Recently read John Bennion’s Ruth at the End of the Earth and really enjoyed it.
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Bound on Earth is an alltime great.
I haven't read Ruth yet, but his previous novel left me spinning: https://thmazing.substack.com/p/v-is-for-verrry-fine-literature