This is the Place by Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Publish America, Inc.- May 4, 2001
ISBN: 1588513521 - Paperback

Reviewed by Susan Johnson, MyShelf.com
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Skylar Eccles is a young woman coming of age in Utah in the 1950's. Utah has a large Mormon population, and Skylar finds herself in a unique and difficult situation. She is what is considered a "half-breed", as the child of a Mormon father and a Protestant mother. Her father, a devout Mormon, can trace his roots back to the founder of the Mormon Church. Her mother's faith and background pale in comparison, but she refuses to give up her beliefs.

Throughout the book, Skylar endures bigotry and pressures from both sides of the religious community, because she dares to be different in a straight-laced society. Skylar hears stories of her great-grandmother, Crystal, and her grandmother, Harriet, who both gave up the religions they were raised in to conform and to the harsh rules of the Mormon faith and convert in order to be with the men they loved. The story of Skylar's mother, Stella, is also told, as she struggles to keep her own identity and refuses to give up her own separate faith.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson deftly portrays the history of the Mormon religion and the struggles and hardships of a young woman in the 1950's. Throughout the book, there are many stories of the Mormon beliefs and their everyday way of life. The lovely, but often desolate, landscape of Utah is wonderfully described. All in all, "This is the Place" is a well written, entertaining and extremely enlightening book.