Shattered Dreams : My Life as a Polygamist's Wife (2007)

by Irene Spencer

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Irene Spencer did as she felt God commanded in marrying her brother-in-law Verlan LeBaron, becoming his second wife at age 16. When the government raided the fundamentalist, polygamous Mormon village of Short Creek, Arizona, Irene and her family fled to Verlan's brothers' Mexican ranch. They lived in squalor and desolate conditions in the Mexican desert with Verlan's four brothers, one mentally ill sister, and numerous wives and children--Irene herself bore thirteen. The dramatic story of her life, and her escape to an outside world for which she was little prepared, reveals how far religion can be stretched and abused and how one woman and her children found their way to truth and redemption.--From publisher description.… (more)

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20
Favorite Wife: Escape from Polygamy by Susan Ray Schmidt (lquilter)
lquilter: Sister-wives Irene and Susan tell their stories in Shattered Dreams and His Favorite Wife, respectively.
00
The 4 O'Clock Murders by Scott Anderson (dara85)
dara85: This book also encompasses the LeBaron family, the brothers of Verlyn LeBaron married to the author, Irene.
00
Prophet's Prey: My Seven-Year Investigation into Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints by Sam Brower (rxtheresa)

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I've always enjoyed a tale of all the vastly different circumstances people find themselves in, and it's even better when it ends up that they figure out how to get themselves into a place they're happy with in the end. I also enjoy a good cult story. But I felt like there was too much of the story missing in this for it to really pull me in. She would mention things once that were clearly significant in her life, but provide no other details. Random paragraphs about her children would appear in the middle of a section and then vanish again, making me wonder what, exactly, her children were doing and how they were coping. And interesting read, but it could have been a little more coherent. (

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Monj | Jan 7, 2022 |

This book needed a better editor. (

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mirnanda | Dec 27, 2019 |

This was a wonderfully written book into this woman's life. It was extremely emotional reading about her hardships and loses. It most certainly pulls on the heart-strings. (

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mimi_bookdragon | Dec 13, 2019 |

Utterly horrifying! I can't believe that this poor woman lived so horribly for so long. I was shocked by all the details of her polygamous lifestyle. This is a hefty memoir, but it reads like a novel, and I finished it in less than a week. A good read. It will keep you up at night. (

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bookishblond | Oct 24, 2018 |

This is now the third book I've read detailing the lives of women who were either born into or married into the notorious LeBaron polygamous Mormon cult, and I have to say it doesn't get easier the more I know about the various branches of this diseased tree. Irene's story is the first to have a woman actually choose to enter the fold, and thereby provides and interesting and somewhat divergent perspective. It continues to break my heart what people will do in the name of their faith. Interesting read, although the main character's perspective is, at times, tough to sympathize with. (

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NeedMoreShelves | Sep 4, 2017 |

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New York Times bestseller (Nonfiction – 2007)

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Canonical title

Shattered Dreams : My Life as a Polygamist's Wife

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2007

People/Characters

Irene Kunz LeBaron ( [1937] | later Irene Spencer | Irene Golda Kunz LeBaron Spencer)

Morris Q. Kunz (Irene's father)

Olive Allred Kunz ( [1910] | [1969] | Irene's mother | second wife to Morris Kunz)

Rhea Allred Kunz (Irene's aunt and stepmother | first wife to Morris & half-sister of Olive)

Ellen Halliday Kunz (Irene's stepmother | third wife to Morris)

(show all 81 items)

Important places

Trout Creek, Utah, USA

Hurricane, Utah, USA

Colonia LeBaron, Galeana, Chihuahua, Mexico

Colonia Nicolás Bravo, Mexico

Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico (p.252 et seq)

(show all 7 items)

Important events

Raid on Short Creek, Arizona, July 26, 1953

Related movies

Epigraph

Humor enables one to live in the midst of tragic events without being a tragic figure. -- E. T. "Cy" Eberhart

Dedication

To my precious children, who made all my sacrifices worthwhile: Donna, André, Steven, Brent, Kaylen, Barbara, Margaret, Connie, LaSalle, Verlana, Seth, Lothair, and my little angel Leah, and my special gift from God, Sandra, who are both now in Heaven but live also in my heart.

To my husband, Hector J. Spencer, for allowing me to pursue my dreams, for loving all my children, and for always displaying a servant's heart. Thank you for making me not only your favorite wife but your only wife.

First words

Prologue: I edged sideways down the aisle of the crowded Greyhound, careful not to bump anyone with the bulky brown suitcase, which held my every possession: two or three plain cotton dresses, my undergarments, and toiletries--the sparse but precious contents of my hope chest.

Book One: Called To Be a Goddess. Chapter One:

As we were growing up, polygamy was the ruling tenet of our lives.

Epilogue: After all my struggles to finally choose freedom, it was tragedy that actually ended my twenty-eight-year marriage to Verlan LeBaron.

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Last words

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Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Gardner, Bud

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

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Wikipedia in English (2)

List of former Mormon fundamentalists

Susan Ray Schmidt

▾Book descriptions

Irene Spencer did as she felt God commanded in marrying her brother-in-law Verlan LeBaron, becoming his second wife at age 16. When the government raided the fundamentalist, polygamous Mormon village of Short Creek, Arizona, Irene and her family fled to Verlan's brothers' Mexican ranch. They lived in squalor and desolate conditions in the Mexican desert with Verlan's four brothers, one mentally ill sister, and numerous wives and children--Irene herself bore thirteen. The dramatic story of her life, and her escape to an outside world for which she was little prepared, reveals how far religion can be stretched and abused and how one woman and her children found their way to truth and redemption.--From publisher description.

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Book description

The memoirs of a woman in a fundamentalist Mormon sect that promotes polygamy; her brother-in-law was the infamous Ervil LeBaron, who ordered the murder of scores of his co-religionists during and after his take-over of their church.

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