The Chosen One

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

Oh wow this one is intense. The book takes you on a journey through the eyes of a 13 year old girl named Kyra who lives in a community of polygamists. Now she of course doesn't really know any other way of life. But through the course of the book she starts to learn that she lives a very different life than others on the outside. Her life is pretty fine with one dad, 3 mothers and 20 siblings. However, one day the head of their community, he's called The Prophet comes to their house to speak to her dad. In a very distressful meeting Kyra finds out that she is to be married to her 60 year old uncle. He already has 6 wives and she will be the 7th. That's when the story heats up and we find out that Kyra will do anything she can to not marry her uncle. She also has a love interest in a boy close to her own age named Joshua and he wants to try to talk The Prophet out of marrying Kyra off. Things do not turn out well for the two young people and they are both beaten badly. That's when you find out that the community they live in has a lot of secrets and a lot of control over their people. It's all a very sad story when Kyra decides to run away she can't even do that because they catch her and bring her back. It has been said that if you try to run away they might even kill you. The story has a bitterweet ending that does show you that Kyra has been saved but the price she has to pay is very very dear. I recommend this book because it is not only shocking but very intense to find out that people actually do live in this kind of setting and practice the same beliefs. I would have to say that this book definitely opened my eyes to different ways of living.