In Their Own Words: Women and the Story of Nauvoo

How would you feel when you heard the news of Joseph and Hyrum Smith's martyrdom? What would you write in your journal about the event? What would you write to a loved one serving in a distant land? The feelings, experiences, personal testimonies, hopes, prayers, and dreams of twenty-five women are compiled in this extraordinary work by Carol Cornwall Madsen. These women found their lives transformed by their conversion to Mormonism and shaped by their experiences thereafter. The voices you hear as you read these documents are clearly their own, from their own perspectives and in their vernacular as they lived in the City of Joseph.

Each woman's background and setting at the time of her writing are explained by the author. The writings include diary entries, letters to loved ones and dear friends, and reminiscences. Readers will find thoughts and experiences about family and friends, religion, material struggles, sorrow, self-appraisal and faith.