Predators, Prey and Other Kinfolk by Dorothy Allred Solomon

Predators, Prey, and Other Kinfolk; Growing Up in Polygamy, by Dorothy Allred Solomon.  With Mitt Romney running for president I wanted to know more about Mormon beliefs and polygamy, since his family spent some time in Mexico and the Mormon families who fled to Mexico were running from the U.S.A. because of polygamist practices.  A biographical account of growing up in a polygamist family from 1949 onward, this "brass knuckle" novel is full of gritty truths of a life vastly different from, thankfully, what most of us went through growing up, in the last half of the 20th century.  Try finding a place, a birth order identity, in a family of 48 children and many wives strewn all over the western United States and Mexico.  Only the first wife is recognized legally and only those children are considered legitimate, legally.  Births are hidden, birth certificates don't exist.  The beginning moves slowly, but the author is trying to fill in blanks that convey how families get to the point of accepting this way of life.  Children, uneducated and undereducated,  are taught from infancy to believe in the unbelievable, accept the unacceptable, and to lie about their existence and family units.  Hidden from the public, unconnected by public schools, TV, books, radio, or telephone, they grow up only knowing the way their parents raise them.  Some manage to attend a public school for a time, but have to hide their family unit's make-up.  How does a five year old draw a picture of their family and then explain it?  How does their Mom and Dad react when that drawing comes home?  As soon as the youngsters show a romantic interest in each other, the self-appointed "prophet" leader decides which older religious member gets the young girls and the young boys are shunted aside, sent to other areas to work, or driven a few miles away with only a duffel bag of clothing, little if any money, and "dumped" along the roadside like an unwanted puppy.  The author got away.  Her father had been murdered by a hit man at the insistence of a rival "leader."  There are many truths here. How does the history of the Romney family fit into all this?  An 8 out of 10.  It will live on in your mind.  Recommended.