Saints (Card novel)

Lore & Background

The book opens in 1829 with the desertion of eight-year-old Dinah and her family by her father, John Kirkham. After enduring horrors of the Industrial Revolution, Dinah, her mother Anna, and her brother Charles convert to Mormonism, while her elder brother Robert and husband Matthew do not, causing a permanent schism. The Mormon Kirkhams emigrate to Nauvoo, where Dinah becomes an inspiration to other women, regarded as a Prophetess, and bestows blessings despite not having the priesthood. She is drawn to Joseph Smith, who teaches her that her husband in England proved unworthy by rejecting the Gospel. Joseph introduces Dinah to plural marriage, and they are sealed for eternity, a secret that strains her relationships, especially with Emma Smith.

After Joseph's death at Carthage, Dinah helps Brigham Young become the new Prophet because he alone is determined to uphold plural marriage. During the Mormon Exodus to Utah, she becomes one of Young's wives with the understanding that the marriage will never be consummated. Dinah lives to age 100, outliving all her husbands and the practice of plural marriage, which the Church abandoned in 1890. The novel includes a short story by Dinah called 'The Best Day,' later published in Card's collection Maps in a Mirror (1990).

Reader's Guide

Saints is significant as a work of historical fiction that explores early Mormon history through the lens of a fictional female protagonist. Orson Scott Card, a descendant of Zina Diantha Huntington—who, like Dinah, was a plural wife of Joseph Smith and later of Brigham Young—drew on family history while creating a character that parallels but differs from his ancestor. The novel was written to appeal equally to Mormon and non-Mormon readers, without proselytizing, though it discusses Mormonism at length. Its original publication as Woman Of Destiny, against Card's wishes, highlights tensions between authorial intent and commercial publishing. The book's treatment of plural marriage, the role of women in early Mormon society, and the schisms within families over religious conversion offer a nuanced perspective on a controversial period. By centering on a woman who outlives the practice, the novel provides a long-view narrative of change within the Latter Day Saint movement.

Did You Know?

• The novel was originally published as Woman Of Destiny, contrary to Orson Scott Card's wishes.
• The protagonist Dinah Kirkham is a fictional character, but Card is a descendant of Zina Diantha Huntington, who was a real plural wife of Joseph Smith and later of Brigham Young.
• Dinah's marriage to Brigham Young is portrayed as never consummated, unlike the historical Zina Huntington's marriage to Young.
• The short story 'The Best Day,' attributed to Dinah in the novel, was later published in Card's collection Maps in a Mirror (1990).