Saints

The Kirkham family has fallen on hard times in Manchester, England, during wrenching changes of the industrial revolution. The older children are forced to work to support the family, until a ray of hope appears -- strangers from America, preaching about building the city of God in the promised land. Dinah and Charlie Kirkham choose to go, but the price they pay is far higher than they bargained for. When they make the sacrifice, they have no way of knowing just how much they will gain -- and how much they will lose. Best known for his fantasy fiction (Ender's Game, etc.), Card does an excellent job of depicting the Dickensian horrors of England undergoing industrialization in the early 19th century as well as the early trials of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints as experienced by his heroine, Dinah Kirkham...Not just for the LDS faithful (the author is himself a Mormon), this ambitious novel will appeal to anyone interested in a sensitive examination of the roots of religious feeling.