True Sisters by Sandra Dallas

I enjoyed this book so much, I've read it twice.  The first time fast, the second time much slower.
I had never heard of the Mormons pushing handcarts 1,300 miles to reach Salt Lake City.  This book is a fictional account of this real journey.

The book tells the stories of several fictious families who struggle across the prairie and mountains to reach  what they called Zion.  Brigham Young ordered them to push handcarts because so many could not afford wagons.  The journey was not well planned.  The carts that were supposed to be waiting for the Morman families were not there, and they had to construct their own carts from green wood which did not hold up well.  This last group of "Saints" who traveled got a late start, and had to cross the mountains in the snow.  The way stations with supplies they were promised along the way did not materialize.  Of the 625 converts who left Iowa City, around 50 defected, then 135 to 170 (maybe more) died of hunger, cold and exhaustion, or a combination of all three, before ever reaching Salt Lake City.  It was the single greatest tragedy in the history of America's westward expansion.

The book also touches on polygamous marriages.  Once Zion was reached, the women were expected to marry, and the men were expected to take more than one wife if they wanted to climb the ranks within the church.  That part was interesting, too, and does not show the plural marriages in a very good light.

I have read several Sandra Dallas books, and have enjoyed most of them.  This one is one of my favorites.