Book Review and Ebook Giveaway: Section 132 by Helga Zeiner

Earlier today I shared and excerpt for this book, and now here is the review!

SYNOPSIS:  Lillian is only 13 when her parents marry her to a middle-aged Bishop of a fundamentalist sect who practices polygamy. She is forced to live with her new husband’s many wives and children on his compound tucked away in the Canadian wilderness.

The hardships of poverty and isolation have crushed the will of just about everybody in his flock. They suffer in silent submissiveness, trying to please their despotic leader. He justifies the humiliating treatment of his dependents by citing ‘Section 132 of the Doctrine & Covenants’ of his fundamentalist religion.

Until, one day, Lillian had enough. But it is dangerous to try and escape the Bishop’s iron rule. He practices blood-atonement, which is quietly sanctioned by the ‘Gatekeepers’, an American secret society within the Fundamentalist Mormon Church.

    
Lillian must find out-side help if she ever wants to leave the Bishop’s compound – but how can she do this if she is locked up without any means of communication? Lillian doesn’t know how life outside a compound functions. She only knows that she can not live like this much longer. Many questions plaque her troubled mind.

Why do her sister-wives put up with this hardship, knowing only a bleak future lies ahead of them? Where do the child-brides come from, the Bishop keeps adding to his family? Where do some of his daughters disappear to, once they come of age? Lillian’s defiance grows with every injustice she witnesses – until she can’t hide her rebellion any longer.

Her desperate struggle to escape leads her into a very dark, very dangerous place. 

But not all is hopeless. When land developer Richard Bergman buys the neighboring property, Lillian’s luck seems to be changing … 

Review: This was a rollicking read from the beginning. It hooked you from page one and kept you reading to find out what the outcome would be. Characters you thought were 'evil' ended up being 'good' and vice versa. More proof that the base human traits know all faiths and piety. The author did an excellent job of bringing life in a polygamist compound to life and showing how not all who live there are happy, or accepting of their lot, as thrust upon them by male elders. This is not a story you will soon forget!

About the Author: Helga Zeiner is a Canadian and German citizen. At the age of 18, Helga completed her arts degree at the Art School of Bavaria, and then left Germany. She lived and worked for two years in Australia, and twelve years in Hong Kong. Since 2004 she has lived with her husband Manfred in the wilderness of British Columbia, about 5 hours north of Vancouver. There they own over 500 acres which they have developed into a gated cabin community, the Rainbow Country Estate. 

For as long as she can remember, Helga has been writing novels, usually in her spare time. Today most of her time is devoted to writing, but she also manages the land development company, is politically active, enjoys outdoor sports and loves smoking cigars.For more info, check out her social media sites:   Website, Facebook, and  Twitter

Helga has generously offered an EBook of Section 132 giveaway for one lucky BTHM reader! So enter today and add a fascinating ebook to your ebook reader!

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Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge, from Partners in Crime program, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, besides a small monetary one, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it