He runs his own business and coaches Little League. She drives a minivan, and she'd be lost without her trusty BlackBerry. They go on date nights. Their kids attend public schools, play sports, and take music lessons. They live in
a roomy house in the 'burbs. They're about as mainstream as families come....They're also polygamists.
For decades, polygamous families have been forced to hide their lifestyle. Men risk prosecution and economic blacklisting, and women
face social isolation and faulty assumptions
about what it means to live as a sister wife. But Love Times Three, the first-ever memoir of a polygamous family, is a riveting inside look at a world most of us can hardly imagine, revealing
the extraordinary workings of the Dargers' day-to-day life.
Independent Fundamentalist Mormons, the Dargers grew up in polygamous families, and by the time they were in high school, they knew they wanted to live the Principle themselves. But in a highly unusual situation, even for their culture, both Alina and Vicki expressed interest
in Joe at the same time. They ultimately courted
him together, and married him on the same day. Valerie, Vicki's twin sister, joined the marriage
ten years later.
The Dargers move the conversation away from child brides, Warren Jeffs, and the FLDS to more mainstream polygamists who willingly enter
into plural relationships as adults. Rather than
living in isolated communities, Independent
Fundamentalist Mormons are similar to an
average American family-except for their
family structure.
In this intimate, inside story, the Dargers
explain why they chose this path despite the pressures of keeping their relationships secret and the jealousy and personal challenges that naturally ensue, why they believe
polygamy should be an accepted lifestyle, and,
ultimately, why they hope that by revealing
their way of life in public, laws that criminalize their lifestyle might change.
Written in the voices of the four parents, Love Times Three is the story of one man, his three wives, and their twenty-four children as they live out their faith in a world of prejudice,
misconception, and fear, including a chapter on the sister wife dynamic, one from Joe on how he juggles his three distinct romantic
relationships, and a chapter from three of their children, called "My Three Moms." Despite the risk of legal action, the Dargers know that it's time to counteract Hollywood's sensational
interpretation and correct the general public's
misunderstanding of polygamy with the truth. Now, for the first time, Joe, Alina, Vicki, and Valerie Darger lift the veil on their so-called
taboo way of life.
Copyright:
2011
Book Details
Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:
9780062074072
Related ISBNs:
9780062074041
Publisher:
HarperCollins
Date of Addition:
08/09/13
Copyrighted By:
Joe, Alina, Vicki, and Valerie Darger with Brooke Adams