The Chosen One

by Carol Lynch Williams

Hardcover, 2009

Status

Available

Call number

FIC WIL

Collection

Teen Books

Genres

Young Adult

All Topics

Fiction

Publication

St. Martin's Griffin (2009), Edition: 1, 224 pages

Description

In a polygamous cult in the desert, Kyra, not yet fourteen, sees being chosen to be the seventh wife of her uncle as just punishment for having read books and kissed a boy, in violation of Prophet Childs' teachings, and is torn between facing her fate and running away from all that she knows and loves.

Media reviews

Kirkus

Kyra's terrible dilemma--escaping her fate means betraying her family--is heartbreakingly real, and the final scenes are riveting and suspenseful.

— 4 more

Booklist

Williams’ portrayals of the family are sharp, but what’s most interesting about this book is how the yearnings and fears of a character so far from what most YAs know will still seem familiar and close.

Library Media Connection

This page turner will appeal to all readers who enjoy fiction with an important message, combined with suspense and danger beautifully crafted within.

New York Times Book Review

The cinematic drama of [Alis and Kyra's] lives, not to mention the fact that they'd both feel at home in ''The Crucible,'' is a means to reach a quieter truth, revealing that moment in childhood when you recognize your thoughts as your own and discover forces in the world that your parents cannot

-- or will not -- protect you from.

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Horn Book Magazine

Williams creates sympathetic characters, and readers will hold their breath right to the end, hoping that Kyra wins her freedom.

User reviews

LibraryThing member meggyweg

People will be tempted to compare this book to Shelley Hrdlitschka's Sister Wife, which came out just months before The Chosen One. The books share certain similarities: both are about a girl in her early teens who lives in an insular polygamist community and yearns for life on the "outside." In

both cases, the girl is in love with a boy her own age, but is commanded to marry an older man.

Williams's book, however, is much darker than Hrdlitschka's. I think the focus is also different. Hrdlitschka tried very hard to present all sides of the polygamy issue and maintain a neutral point of view. In Williams's story, however, the male leaders of the community are indisputably evil, and one dark event follows another. An infant is deliberately ducked in water and nearly drowned simply because the previous day the adults were unable to stop her crying. Disabled babies are killed at birth. A teenage girl forced to marry a much older man is accused of adultery and murdered. And so on.

Many people might accuse Williams of prejudice against polygamists, but the polygamy seemed almost incidental to the story. Take the polygamy out and you wouldn't lose much. You've still got girls into marriage with men many times their age, the murder of infants, etc. I think the story wasn't about polygamists, it was about an isolated and thoroughly cowed group of people in the grip of some truly terrible leaders. This book could have been about Jonestown. Or North Korea.

The Chosen One is a quick read. Not only is it relatively short at a little over 200 pages, but the atmosphere of suspense -- as the protagonist's wedding date approaches -- kept me rapidly turning pages. I actually found it more realistic than Sister Wife, particularly at the end. The ending is ambiguous and it's clear that the girl and her family's troubles are far from over, but it was about as hopeful as you could reasonably expect.

I liked the story a lot, but it's not for everyone. The sheer darkness of it, and the violence, make it lean towards the older end of the YA spectrum, though the protagonist is only thirteen.

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24 more

LibraryThing member MsCellophane

Kyra is a girl. A girl who lives in a closed-off religious cult. She's in love with a boy. She likes to read books from a mobile library. A mobile library that stops at the edge of the compound.

But sometimes
sometimes
she feels like
maybe she's sinning
sinning
so much sinning

And now she has been engaged

to her uncle. Her sixty-year old uncle! She has to escape. How will she escape this? This community that seems to be closing in around her? You will find out after many pages. Many pages of Kyra talking aloud to herself. Many pages of refusal to use commas.

more than one instance
of emotional distress
distress
signified by loss
of structure
punctuation
and capitalization.

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LibraryThing member ChristianR

Gripping and terribly unsettling, The Chosen One is about a 13-year-old girl (Kyra) in a polygamous community who is told by the leaders that she must marry her 67-year-old uncle and become his seventh wife. Her father and mothers (her father has three wives and numerous children) are unhappy, but

are afraid to rebel too strongly against the directive. Kyra clearly sees that if she fights the marriage or tries to run away the consequences for her family could be horrible, but she is repulsed by the idea of the marriage. Quite intense.

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LibraryThing member JDpirate5

"Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated community without questioning the fact that her father has three wives and she has twenty brothers and sisters, with two more on the way. That is, without questioning them much---if you don’t count her secret visits to the Mobile Library on

Wheels to read forbidden books, or her meetings with Joshua, the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her.
But when the Prophet decrees that she must marry her sixty-year-old uncle---who already has six wives---Kyra must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family forever."

This book was a quick read, right to the point.
It was also pretty different from the fantastical books that I typically read, so that made it refreshing, as well.

I loved the way that the story was set up (between flashbacks and the present moment).
I loved the way the characters in the story changed before Kyra's eyes, and thus before the reader's.
I loved the way Kyra grew.
I loved the way Kyra explained how the outside world looked at them (a interesting take, as the reader most likely feels that way) and how that made her feel.
Finally, I love books where the character loves books, and this was a great one.

I rooted for her, and that is what makes this book special, is that you want Kyra to be happy.

I immediately lent this book to a friend, who finished it in one night and was thrilled with it.

On a final note, after reading William's bio in the back, I would love to know why she wrote this book...

This review is also a post on my blog

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LibraryThing member The_Book_Queen

When I first picked up The Chosen One, I was a bit weary-- it's not the kind of book I usually read. I didn't know a whole lo about polygamy, except for the stereotypical information we get through the news. Could I get into this book even though everything about their life style goes against my

beliefs and my morals? I didn't think so... but I would soon be proven wrong.

Though I still find polygamy wrong (and not just because of the multiple wives), I found out more about it through this book, and hopefully that knowledge will help me to be more open minded in the future-- after all, many of the followers are born into this cult/religion, but that doesn't mean they agree to everything their 'God' has said they should do. Kyra's family, for example, seems much closer, more loving, than the others, and they don't take everything they've been raised to believe to heart. They don't want Kyra to marry her 60 year old uncle (and become his 7th wife), and they wish they could change they would do anything to change the Prophet's decision.

Also, looking at Kyra and Joshua's forbidden love, you can't help but reach out and connect with the characters, even if they do have different beliefs. They love each other and want to get married, grow old, all the same things we want from life-- but their family, their whole community, is against them. Sound familiar? We've heard the same basic idea before, but never in this type of setting. That's one of the reason I love this book-- she connected it to things we could relate to, and in doing so make the characters seem real.

4.5 STARS! An in depth look at a culture we know very little about-- enlightening, interesting, yet gut-wrenching because of the clear pictures Williams paints in your mind. Emotional, compelling, and eye opening, Kyra's story is sure to make you stop and think, not just close the book and put it aside. Fast-paced and exciting, The Chosen One is sure to grab your attention from the very beginning!

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LibraryThing member krau0098

I've had this book on my to be read pile for a while. I find polygamist colonies interesting and had heard that this book gives a fair opinion of those family groups as part of the story. I will say this wasn't necessarily a fun read, but it was well done and heart wrenching. Overall I found it

interesting and it makes me wonder how "true to life" this story actually is; it is supposed to be a fictional account about a girl that escaped from a polygamist home.

13 year old Kyra lives in a colony of polygamists with her mother and plethora of siblings. Her mother is the third wife and her father alternates between wives. Then one day the Prophet issues a decree: Kyra will marry her father's brother...who is her uncle and ancient, she will be wife number seven. Adding to the distress of marrying her uncle are the strict rules of her lifestyle, the books she sneaks in to read from the Mobile Library, her mother Sarah going through a very difficult pregnancy, and Kyra's attraction to a boy her age who wants to Choose her as his one and only wife.

This is a very well written book; as times it is a bit unconventional in that there are short sentences that represent random thoughts flying out of Kyra's head. However, the writing style was very appropriate to the book. It is an incredibly engaging book and will have you on the edge of your seat wondering if Kyra will try to escape and if she does, will she make it out alive.

It is also an intensely emotional book that will have you in tears and incredibly angry at parts. It is full of disturbing references to rape, incest, and beatings; although only the beatings are covered in full detail. There is a particular scene where Kyra's 8 month old sister is submersed in ice water until she stops breathing, just because the 8 month old was crying at night and kept the neighbors awake...this was incredibly disturbing and made me angry at this book and at the fact that these things happen (not just in polygamist communities, but in general).

This book really stands out in that it also pictures the love that can exist in this type of community. All of Kyra's mothers, siblings, and her father really work to have a loving household. They don't argue a lot and work to make their home a happy one. When it is announced that Kyra will marry her uncle; her father actually goes to petition the Prophet to try and change his mind. This family of Kyra's really does care about each other.

Williams does an excellent job of characterization too. Kyra is brave and you feel her heartbreak as she contemplates running away and leaving her ailing mother and loving sisters behind, you feel her excitement when she manages to smuggle a new book in to read. You also feel the hopelessness of her father as he tries to do right by his family; he is threatened to have his wives and children given to more disciplined fathers if he can't bend Kyra to the Prophet's will.

Does the book end well? Well I can't give it away, but let's say it ends realistically and abruptly. It left me wishing for just a couple more chapters expanding on Kyra's decisions at the end.

Overall this was an excellent book that gives incite into the positives and horrifying negatives that can happen in a polygamist community. It is also about a young girl's choice between family and herself; between freedom and slavery to her cult. Was it a fun read? No, it is a tough, emotionally wrenching read that will leave you sad and angry and all out drained. I recommend it for anyone with interest in this subject matter, or young adult readers. As an adult I found it fascinating but it is not something I will ever read again.

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LibraryThing member SugarCreekRanch

The Chosen One is the story of thirteen year old Kyra, growing up in a polygamist community. She has just discovered young love when it is announced that she will marry her 60-something uncle in one month. This novel is in first person, and Kyra's "voice" is very realistic. The Chosen One starts as

an absorbing character-driven piece, but I was delighted to find a lot of action toward the end of the book. Definately hard to put down.

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LibraryThing member karieh

For me, the make or break point comes about 10 sentences into the book. The narrator's voice makes all the difference. If it's good, I'm in (unless the actual book is terrible). If the narrator's voice is annoying or he or she tries any cheesy mimicry - then I shut it off.

"The Chosen One" is

narrated beautifully by Jenna Lamia. I'm not sure her actual age, but she takes on the main character, 13-year old Kyra, beautifully. And when voicing other characters, older/younger, male/female...she gives them their own tones and emphasis and really makes the listening experience compelling.

The story of "The Chosen One" is at turns incredibly frustrating and incredibly sad. As I listened, I wanted to scream at most of the adults. The "chosen" ones who devalue the lives of children and women and who put blind religious dogma and hunger for power above all else. Fathers who allow their wives (plural, of course) and children to be abused or taken from them in the name of God.

It was incredibly sad because although I know this story is fiction, there are real girls, women, children who live this life, and worse, at the hands of men. When the book is over, author Carol Lynch Williams is interviewed and when asked if there are many girls like Kyra out there, I could hear the fear and despair in her voice as she answered, "I hope not...I hope not."

Kyra is a wonderful character who finds an escape from her narrow world through books, through the Ironton County Mobile Library on Wheels. From a world of banned and then burned books, she is able to experience some freedoms through the power of words. This knowledge prove both a blessing and a curse as her eyes are opened to the injustices of her world and as she realizes not only how wrong that which is being done to her is, but that all of her sisters will suffer the same fate. (Paraphrase) - "We're here for the men," she finally understands. In a compound where age 10 is almost a woman, she understands that she will have no life as long as she stays.

Frustrating and sad as Kyra's story may be, it is a gripping one - told well by the author and the reader.

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LibraryThing member taramatchi

What a ride this book was! This is a tender, but gut-wrenching story about a brave 13-year-old girl who is in love with a boy who is wonderful, but forced to marry her uncle (50 years older than her). The prophet and her uncle were horrible, horrible people. There were many times I got that feeling

you get when you watch a horror movie, you know the feeling, when you want to yell at the screen "Don't do it!!" One of the best things for me was that Williams was able to really capture the spirit of Kyra. I could imagine her thinking and saying the things that were said, and feeling the wide range of emotions that she did.
Since, Polygamy is not my way of life, I found myself wanting to talk sense into her, but Williams was able to portray the complex feelings that kids growing up in this environment have, and how kids and adults in this type of community can see the cruel ways of their leader and stay. I was really able to empathize with them and understand why the characters did what they did.
It was a wonderful little treat, and highly recommended!

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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50

Kyra’s life comes tumbling down around her on the day that the “Prophet” declares that he had a vision from God that she is to become Brother Hyram’s seventh wife, ignoring the fact that Hyram is fifty years older than Kyra and that he is her blood uncle. She has been brought up in an

isolated religious community, never questioning the multiple marriages or the strict rules as her family, with it’s three loving mothers and a father who is both gentle and good, have been like a buffer between the her and the harshness. But there is no choice here, she is going to be forced to marry unless she runs away. But saving herself means endangering everyone in her family as people who disobey the “Prophet” and his minions are punished severely or are even killed.

I found The Chosen One is be a very emotional read. I was angry and appalled at the pain and ugliness that Kyra and other young girls were being forced to endure. These girls were being raised to simply warm the bed of the church elders. Many of the cults’ young men were being forced to leave, especially the young men that looked at the girls. The families were terrorized and threatened until they silently allowed their daughters to be used this way.

Although this book is about families that practice polygamy, the main emphasis is on the control that they have given to one man, enabling him to set himself and his friends up like demi-gods. Nevertheless, this is a memorable book that engages the reader immediately and has given me a desire to read more about polygamy and cults.

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LibraryThing member EKAnderson

Kyra, a thirteen-year-old girl living with her father, three mothers, and 20 brothers and sisters among the Chosen Ones – a community of Believers living in isolation from the outside world. Kyra isn’t terribly happy with her life, her only reprieve being her sneaky trips to the mobile library

that drives past the commune once a week. And there’s Joshua, the boy Kyra wishes she could choose. But that is a job for the Prophet, and soon he declares Kyra is to be wed to her father’s brother – a cruel, 60-year-old man. With the wedding on its way, Kyra knows she has to find a way out, even if it means abandoning her family. This is not just another cult book, but a compelling story of love and loss, and of finding oneself against all odds, lyrically written with compassion and style. The Chosen One is a book you won’t be able to put down, and Kyra’s story proves to be more than the morbid curiosity that led you to pick up the book in the first place.

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LibraryThing member TheBookCellar

This was such a compelling, powerful book of choice and rebellion. The Chosen One has such strong emotions that kept you thinking and feeling for Kyra(the main character) the entire book. With The Chosen One, there were varying shades of gray, everything wasn't just black or white. It made the book

so much better.

The Chosen One was one of those books that after you read, the plot still keeps reeling in your mind. The fact that Kyra "escapes" with her books if another thing that really draws you in. The Chosen One isn't just a book, it's a story that's a long trek of emotions. It was a great read, that carries you to the end of the book, captivating you, making you read wanting more. This is a must read!

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LibraryThing member abbylibrarian

Kyra is thirteen when the Prophet Chooses her for marriage to her 60-year-old uncle. Women don't get a choice - they must be obedient. Kyra can't help wondering if this is payback for the sins she's committed. She's committed many sins. And now she'll commit one more. Because even if it means

risking the lives of the people she loves, she has to get away. If she can.

Kyra comes to live in this poetic novel about a polygamist religious commune. I couldn't put it down and this will be a hit with teens who love books that are ripped from the headlines.

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LibraryThing member brainlair

Kyra and her family are so excited! The Prophet is coming to visit them tonight and they are sure it's good news. Maybe their dad has been chosen to become an apostle. The apostles have the best of everything because they are blessed, so sayeth Prophet Childs. Right now Kyra and her families live

in three trailers on the outskirts of the compound. Did i mention that Kyra has 20 brothers and sisters? And 3 mothers? Yeah. They live in a polygamist society that is mostly cut off from the outside world. But please, read on, don't let that stop you.

It turns out that the person who was chosen is not her dad, but Kyra herself.

"In a light bright as the sun the revelation came," Prophet Childs says. He stares over our heads like he's seeing things all over again. "The two of you at the stone altar, wearing the ceremonial dress, Brother Hyrum standing, you kneeling at his feet. I saw it all. I saw it all. You have been saved for him."

She's been chosen to marry Hyrum! But at 14 she doesn't want to get married, especially not to her uncle! She wants to wait for Joshua. He's her age and over this past year they've learned so much about each other. And what about Patrick, on the Bookmobile? The Prophet and Uncle Hyrum promise riches and ease to the family when Kyra marries. But in the meantime, the family needs to be taught about discipline, especially the baby who cried when The Prophet was talking.

What choice does Kyra really have?

I can't tell you much about this book because the beauty is in the unfolding. I read a lot of this book aloud to my daughter and she would yell everytime I stopped (cause it's faster to read silently!). Finally she came over and started reading it with me.

Carol Lynch Williams creates a world so real, I could feel the tension in Kyra. What were we going to do? How could we possibly get anywhere? What about our family? I felt as if I had to make the same decisions as Kyra. The writing was clear and concise. It moved you along in the story to the only possible ending. I absolutely loved this book! I will be adding it to the school library and as a book club book in the fall. St. Martin's Press even included a great discussion guide! I give it 5 stars!

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LibraryThing member pacey1927

I have had a mini-facination with pologymst cults and I thought it was very interesting that there was a young adult novel written about it. I read these stories and am amazed time and time again by how strong these women have to be to leave their families, their religion, their entire lives, to

start out with nothing. This story was very similar to the autobiographical stories that I have read, and if possible, it was every bit as heartwrenching. Kyra, is an almost 13 year old, living with her father and her mother (father's third wife) and an large assortment of brothers and sisters. She has recently begun a 'secret' flirtation with a boy on the compound who has told Kyra that he wants to 'chose' her to be his wife, his only wife. The two have heard stories, and seen what happens to those who don't follow 'God's' rules...really the so called Prophet's rules. Kyra's other 'sin'? She secretly meets Patrick, the mobile library driver each week to sneak a book to read. Then one day the prophet comes to vist, something he hasn't ever done before, and announces to the family that he has had a vision from God. God's revelation has told him that Kyra is to be married to Brother Hyram. Brother Hyram happens to be Kyra's sixty year old uncle. Kyra is to be Hyram's seventh wife. Aghast, Kyra vows not to let this happen. Unfortunately the Chosen Ones will stop at nothing to make sure the marriage goes through. In the past, they haven't been above murder to make sure things go their way. What happens to Kyra and those who love her is heartbreaking. Carol Lynch Williams does a standout job of making Kyra's family empathetic...it is clear Kyra's father and all three of his wives care deeply for her. They take some risks for her, but they never quite go far enough. This also rang painfully realistic to me. The story is sad, I am a bleeding heart and I did tear up several times. I read this book in a short couple of hours. I am passing this book on to my 13 year old stepdaughter in hopes that she will take to heart Kyra's strength. A must read for both adults and teens.

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LibraryThing member ForeignCircus

This excellent novel of silent rebellion and the power of choice follows 13-year old Kyra, a young girl living in a polygamist cult that is growing ever more hostile to the outside world. Kyra is a silent rebel- her trips to the mobile library have opened her eyes to a world outside, and her secret

meetings with a teenaged boy on the compound threaten the power structure of the cult. After the prophet declares that God has chosen Kyra to become her 60 year-old uncle's sixth bride, Kyra is faced with an unspeakable choice between her family and her freedom.

This thought-provoking novel is a must-read for anyone interested in the concept of free will or in the inner lives of girls in polygamist cults. The novel presents all sorts of choices that people make in order to benefit or protect themselves and their family. As Kyra's family fails to protect her, she is forced to make the difficult decisions for herself. This book is violent in parts, but not unrealistically so, and faces head on the issues of immature child brides.

Highly recommended.

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LibraryThing member bookluver-carol

Wow. Just wow.

This book just blew me away. I'm so glad that the book met my expectations--and exceded them--and the praise is well-deserved.

The author did an excellent job researching and writing a book over the scary polygamous community. It does show that she did a whole lot of research since the

book rang true and there was nothing that felt false about it. Her writing was just superb and she did a great job adding in flashbacks to the story.

Kyra was a character who defied the rules and the women's place in the community, making her a strong character--one who you just want to keep reading about. Her constant battle with herself to whether or not leave the community was made stronger by showing her strong ties and relationships with her huge and caring family. Her relationship with Joshua was meh at first but I like how over time it grew and became stronger.

The book mobile played a big part in the story (you'll see how if you read the book) and I liked that it was once of the sources to teaching her about the real world that is outside of her community.

There were some saddening and frightening scenes in the book that just brought tears to my eyes.The book was a very quick yet amazing read. Even though the book is short in length, it does not take away from the story, it improves it since it doesn't allow room for unnecessary scenes.

Overall: A great novel about polygamy and a girl's quest to try to leave it behind. Definitely recommended. You'll stay up all night reading this amazing novel.

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LibraryThing member dasuzuki

It has been awhile since I have given a book a 5 stars but I just had to for The Chosen One. Kyra’s story pulls you right into her life have you will come to care for her so much you just want to march into that compound and beat the crap out of the so called leaders of this community. Despite

not feeling well while reading this book I could not stop reading until I got to the end and my heart was actually racing as I waited to find out what would happen to Kyra.

I have seen those TV specials or news coverage about polygamist communities and felt sorry for some of the men and especially women living in those communities but it’s nothing like seeing their life through Kyra’s eyes. To hear what she is experiencing, what she feels and watch the actions of even those who may disagree with what is going on but who are too scared to do anything about it is heart wrenching. I normally do not like to judge other people’s beliefs but I find it hard to believe that a god would condone hold a baby’s head down in a bucket of ice water or beating and killing women for disobeying an order to marry their own blood relative. I have read stories about those who have escaped life in these communities but this book also reminds me of all those who are left behind and are too scared, too weak or for other reasons are not able to leave and are forced to live this life against their wishes. I know (or hope) not all community’s are like the one portrayed in this story.

Truly, this is a wonderful book that I would highly recommend.

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LibraryThing member nfmgirl2

This is one of those books that I finish and wonder how I am going to review it. The book was a relatively easy and breezy read, as far as the writing style and the length of the book. The subject matter was quite heavy, however, and parts of it were very disturbing.

I am also disturbed by the

book's depiction of these people, who are quite evidently an LDS-type sect, and how accepting they are of things like murder and child abuse. I'm concerned with readers seeing an LDS-sect on TV and remembering the stories in this book, and having a negative bias towards the people under the assumption that these stories are based on truth. I don't know whether there was any real basis for some of the twists in the storyline of this book, but I do tend to stop and question things. I worry that teens, who this book is geared towards, may not approach it with the same skepticism.

That being said, the author did a good job at making the characters believable, and in making me care about Kyra. I felt her pain, and the pain of her family who loved her, but wanted to be good and faithful servants to their God and the prophet that guided them. I cheered on her rebelliousness and the surety of who she was and what she wanted. However I also felt despondency at the sect members' compliant natures that would stand by and allow their own children to be abused, and would defend the punishment and abuse of "disobedient" members, even the murder of innocents.

And I'm left frustrated with the ending of the book. Where's my happy ending? Doesn't the author know that all stories are supposed to have a happy ending with all the loose ends tied up in a pretty bow? (Are you listening Stephen King, who left me with a dead child at the end of Cujo? I read that book a good 25 years ago, and I've still never forgiven you for that one!) This book left me with so many questions, and a lot of frustration.

All in all, The Chosen One was a well-written book, but full of disturbing subject matter, and leaving me feeling emotionally heavy. I'm hesitant to recommend it for it's target group (teens), but think that it is worth a read by emotionally stable individuals who will approach it with a skeptical and realistic eye.

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LibraryThing member kperry

Kyra has three mothers, one father, and twenty brothers and sisters. She lives in a compound led by The Prophet, a man who is in “close communication with God.” Over the years, the compound has become more and more closed off from the outside world. With the fence that was built around the

compound and the mass book burning, any freedom they had is dwindling away.Kyra is the most headstrong out of all of her siblings. She sometimes has a difficult time accepting the laws of the community. Because of her headstrong ways, she keeps secrets. Even though books aren’t allowed on the compound, she has found a way to read. On one of her walks she discovers that a bookmobile passes the compound. When the bookmobile driver stops, she gets up the nerve to get a library card and check out one book at a time. She keeps it hidden in her favorite tree where she spends a lot of her time.Reading isn’t the only secret Kyra keeps. There is also Joshua - the boy she loves. They sneak out at night to talk, to kiss, and to read. She sees herself getting married to Joshua and starting a family, but she begins to question her feelings about husbands having multiple wives. Could she stand sharing Joshua with another woman?Kyra’s life begins to spiral out of control when her and her family get the word from The Prophet that she has been Chosen. Chosen to be married. Married to her sixty-year-old uncle. Unable to believe this is possible, she runs and hides in her tree until it is dark enough to go to Joshua’s. From the minute Kyra discovers she is supposed to marry her uncle, her life is a living nightmare. She gets a glimpse of what life will be like when her uncle comes over to discipline one of her siblings for embarrassing him in front of The Prophet. As she goes through the wedding preparations like a zombie, she hopes somehow her father will talk The Prophet out of his decision.Threats, beatings, banishments. This is what life is like in the compound. Kyra must decide if she can live this way or if she will take the risk and run away and leave her family forever.This novel is very powerful and disturbing. The contrast between the family life Kyra is used to and the other families in the compound is interesting. Where Kyra’s father is always loving and kind to his wives and children, the other men of the compound rule by fear and harsh discipline. This is one of the main reasons Kyra is headstrong.Something that would have made this novel even better though, is if the author would have given us more examples of what went on behind closed doors in the houses that weren’t as friendly as Kyra’s. THE CHOSEN is a book everyone should read, especially in light of recent news events concerning a situation much like Kyra’s. THE CHOSEN is a page-turner. Once you start, you won’t want to put it down until you see how it ends. Your heart will go out to Kyra. THE CHOSEN is one of those books that will leave you pondering for days.

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LibraryThing member jenniferthomp75

Kyra is one of many children living in a polygamist cult. She feels like she's doomed to hell because she has a secret relationship with a boy and frequents the local library's bookmobile.

When the prophet declares that Kyra, age 13, must marry her 60 year-old uncle, she decides that running away

from home is her only option.

Fast-paced and interesting, I think teens will really enjoy this book. Although they won't be able to relate to many aspects of Kyra's family life, they will see themselves in her bravery to stand up against controlling authoritarians and to do what's right for her.

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LibraryThing member ShellyPYA

Kyra, 13, has lived her whole life in an isolated community, knowing nothing but obedience to the prophet, her father, and her three "mothers". When she discovers a bookmobile on one of her walks outside the compound, a new world is opened to her, and she feels a new freedom in reading and new

feelings for a boy who lives in the compound. But then the prophet declares that she has been chosen by her uncle to be his bride. Repulsed, Kyra and her family do all they can to change his mind, to no avail. Will she accept the prophet's word or try to escape?

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LibraryThing member trishalynn0708

What a heartbreaking, intense novel into a secret world. This book was so intense from page one. Not one page slowed down my reading. The story could have been longer and it still would have been just as intense.
Reading this book was like living in Kyra's shoes. All that she goes through and just

to escape this horrible world makes you shake your head as you are reading this book. And everyone who tries to help her gets hurt in the process. I am really hoping that their is a book two. I hope that if their is a book two that Kyra meets up with Joshua or her family. She goes through so much that you just want to her be happy. I am just really hoping for another book.

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LibraryThing member ZareksMom

One of the best books I've read in a long time! The book is a heartbreaking tale of a girl growing up in a cult. When the Prophet announces that Kyra must marry her own uncle, a sixty-year-old man, she begins to question the things she's been taught. Definitely worth the reading!

LibraryThing member Yestergirl

What could have been a simple coming of age story of Kyra Leigh Carlson becomes something much different in the hands of Carol Lynch Williams. A casual look at a boy, reading Bridge to Terabithia or Anne of Green Gables, going into town.... all these are sinful in Kyra's world, where she has 3

mothers and 20 brothers & sisters... 13 year old Kyra is trapped in a polygamist cult... She lives in a closely guarded , extremely religious compound in the desert.

Kyra loves her family and she's known no other life, but she's growing up and her inner feelings start to question "the rules". When her wandering takes her out of the compound and to the weekly bookmobile that stops to let her explore the 'other' world, her awareness of the outside grows and her so does her natural curiosity. She begins a secret courtship with Joshua another young cult member. Their budding romance is sweet and innocence, but forbidden...

The author portrays Kyra and her secret desires & fears in such a sensitive way that we are drawn to her plight. Especially when the leader of the sect, Prophet Childs, visits Kyra's family to tell them the wonderful news that Kyra has been chosen to become the seventh wife of her father's brother who is 60 yrs. old! Kyra is horrified, her dreams of marrying Joshua are flashing before her eyes, she is torn between all that she loves, her family and home, and marrying a man who's older than her father, who's her father's BROTHER.

The opening line of the novel, "If I was going to kill the Prophet," I say, not even keeping my voice low," ... shows us how Kyra is desperate to save herself. And we become desperate too. Kyra struggles with the thoughts of leaving in order to save herself against giving up the love and comfort of the family she loves dearly. Will she have the courage to free herself? Will she have the courage to enter a world that is so unlike hers she may never adjust? Her journey takes some incredible twists and turns.

What a wonderful story this was! Carol Lynch Williams writes with such care and insight that you almost feel that Kyra is not fictional. Kyra has such depth and feelings that you also become invested in her well being. You are holding your breathe waiting to see what happens all the way to the end! And it is time well spent! Promoted as YA Teen Fiction, I would say it is worth reading even if you aren't in the YA catagory!

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