Favorite Wife
Escape from Polygamy
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Favorite Wife
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Narrated by:
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Susan Ericksen
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Written by:
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Susan Ray Schmidt
About this listen
She had no choice in the matter - none of the girls did. Her mission was to give birth to and raise many children in devoted service to a shared husband. Susan was 15 years old when she became the sixth wife of Verlan LeBaron, one of the leaders of a rogue Mormon cult, who was engaged in a blood feud with his brother that from 1972 to 1988 claimed up to two dozen lives.
In this gripping and eloquent book, Susan Ray Schmidt tells the story of growing up on the inside and of her ultimate escape with her children from an oppressive and violent life. Delving more deeply into this mysterious underworld than any previous work, Favorite Wife is a powerful account of the affairs of the heart, coming of age under exceptional circumstances, and the tough choices that are sometimes painfully necessary to preserve human dignity.
Susan Ray Schmidt was once a member of the Church of the Firstborn of the Fullness of Times and the child-bride of polygamist Verlan LeBaron in Colonia LeBaron in Mexico. After eight years of marriage, she left her husband and fled with her five children back to America. She remarried three years later.
©2006 Susan Ray Schmidt (P)2018 TantorWhat listeners say about Favorite Wife
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- A.B.
- 2023-06-06
A riveting memoir
A story of a young woman’s resilience and courage as well as fascinating history of FLDS colonies in Mexico.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Angie
- 2024-01-19
Very interesting!
At first, I thought this was more about a life of the evil side of Polygamy and how she escaped it, but I was fascinated to learn it was more about the day to life of how they can truly live with nearly nothing, and the politics that can be involved in this religion. We've all heard the stories of Warren Jeff's, but this was a different tale. To know she grew up in a loving home was something I wasn't expecting, but was very grateful to hear that not all Polygamy stories are ones of abuse, rape and neglect. She did love her husband, even though it wasn't the marriage she wanted it to be. She loved her sister wives (for the most part) even though some were kind and some weren't. Throughout the telling of her story from life as a young girl to that of a married woman with several children, we were also told about the political struggles for power that threatened their community and even her own life. I would recommend this book to anyone who's interested in the story of the life of Polygamists and their religion because it gives a much different angle then most of the stories out there, and I enjoyed listening to her entire book.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- KDF
- 2022-11-29
Very good
A chilling depiction of life under oppression. A good insight and lots to hear from
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Renee Frigault
- 2023-03-24
I couldn’t bring myself to finish it
The memoir is told in the voice of a child being groomed to be a polygamous wife. Knowing where it was going I found myself feeling more and more uncomfortable to be hearing this story from a child’s point of view. It was deeply unsettling and I couldn’t continue listening.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- fishface42
- 2023-05-10
BORRR-RING
You get what you pay for. The great length of this tale is made up of endless adumbration of detail, variations of repetition of mundane factoids, and the sheer fatuousness of the characters. Fast forward a chapter and you haven’t missed a thing. Much better about this cult is “When Men Become Gods.”
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