Shattered Dreams is the bibliography of Irene Spencer. She was born to a fundamentalist Mormon family that believed in the “celestial law”. A man with two wives was considered worthy of becoming a God in their future life. Those with seven or more wives (quorum) were practically guaranteed they would be a God ruling their own world in the next life. Their wives and children were the start of the population in the new world.
Irene was born in 1937, long after the Mormon Church had declared polygamy wrong and it was made unconstitutional. Unfortunately, her father was part of the fundamentalist Mormons that believed they were the true church. Every girl born to a fundamentalist Mormon knew she would be part of a polygamist’s family. After the first wife, each wife was expected to help recruit the next wife for their husband. Therefore, Irene was married to her first husband at the age of 16.
Verlan and Irene even had to move to Mexico to escape the US law enforcers when they started arresting polygamists in Utah. They wound up on a “ranch” that consisted of poorly kept buildings. Since Irene was Verlan’s second wife, she had to share a tiny home with another woman. They “shared” Verlan on a schedule he dictated.
I found it almost unbelievable that Mormon men were working toward being a God but kept their wives in poor, unsanitary, living conditions at best. At times the women even had to check out the local farms for produce they had discarded as unfit for consumption. The Mormon men were considered praiseworthy but weren’t required to take proper care of their many families.
Recommendation
This leftover tenant of fundamentalist Mormonism is enough to prove to me that this religion is little more than a cult. It certainly doesn’t require its members to show the respect to women that Christ demonstrated. I, personally, cannot respect any religion that forces women to share husbands and to live in horrible poverty so their husband can become a God.
I was relieved to learn that Verlan dies in an accident at the end of this story. Irene becomes a born-again Christian and marries a fine Christian man. Only someone who has lived through this experience could appreciate the dramatic changes in Irene’s life. I am totally convinced this book will make you want to seek out Mormons and gently show them a better way. If Irene can find it, every Mormon can find true happiness and peace in Christianity.
Irene Spencer. Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist’s Wife. Center Street. 2007.
