Women
of the Book of Mormon
By Heather B. Moore
An
ideal gift to share with mothers,
sisters, and friends, this refreshing
and engaging book offers new insights
into the temporal and spiritual lives
of our ancient sisters.
Explore the lives, circumstances, and
choices of women in the Book of Mormon
in this uplifting and inspirational
volume that illustrates the parallels
between the lives of the women of the
Book of Mormon and LDS women today.
With new insights on practically every
page, author Heather B. Moore explores
the written and unwritten stories of
the prominent women in the Book of
Mormon—taking familiar material and
providing vivid details about family
dynamics, domestic practices, and
other aspects of daily life. By
applying historical and cultural
contexts to the situations of women
like Sariah, Abish, Eve, Mary, and the
faithful mothers of the striplings
warriors, you will peek beneath the
surface of the scriptural accounts to
better understand both the righteous
women of the Book of Mormon—and the
women who didn’t use their agency
wisely.
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1.
How many women are “named” in the
Book of Mormon? Who are they?
2. Why did the mothers of the
two-thousand stripling warriors allow
their young sons to fight in place of
the men?
3. What was the average age for a
woman to become betrothed in Ancient
Israel or Mesoamerica?
4. How many daughters of the Lamanites
were abducted by the wayward Nephite
priests?
5. How did the daughter of Jared’s
plan to use her husband to assassinate
her grandfather backfire on her?
Trivia
Answers:
1.Six women are mentioned by name:
Eve, Mary (mother of Christ), Sarah
(wife of Abraham), Abish, Sariah, and
Isabel.
2. The men had made a sacred oath to
lay down their swords, so their sons
went to fight in their place so that
the sacred oath wouldn’t have to be
broken.
3. The earliest a young woman could
become officially betrothed was twelve
and a half years old.
4. Twenty-four Lamanite daughters were
abducted by the Nephite priests led by
Amulon.
5. The grandfather escaped, and
eventually her husband killed her own
father, and later her eldest son.
Recipe:
Honey-Vanilla
Fruit Compote
Recipe by Shanti
Morell-Hart
Vanilla, called t'isil in
Mayan, was cultivated throughout
Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize,
and El Salvador by the pre-Hispanic
Maya people. Bees were also kept
for their honey, which was the type of
sweetener most commonly used in the
Mayan area. The fruits in this recipe
are also native to the area and can
still be found growing wild in
forests, although they may look
different from the cultivated
varieties we find in supermarkets
today.
1 ½ cups honey
3 ½ cups water
1 vanilla bean, split or 1 tablespoon
pure vanilla extract
1 ripe medium pineapple, peeled,
cored, and diced
10-12 small, ripe but firm fresh
guavas
½ pound fresh cherries
grapes, halved
In a three-quart saucepan, combine the
honey and water. Place pan over medium
heat and bring to a simmer. Stir until
the honey is dissolved, making a thin
syrup. Place the vanilla bean in the
syrup and reduce heat to low. Bring
another large saucepan of water to a
boil. Plunge the guavas into boiling
water for a few seconds, then remove
and peel. Add the guavas and cherries
to the simmering syrup and poach for
15 minutes, stirring gently from time
to time. Add the pineapple and
continue to poach for another 5
minutes. Turn off heat and allow the
fruit to cool in the syrup. Remove the
vanilla bean, rinse, dry, and store.
Serve the compote chilled, or at room
temperature. Garnish with halved
grapes.
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1.
What caused you to write this
book?
When my Out of Jerusalem
series hit the shelves in
2004, the readers’ response
reflected genuine interest in
the lives of the women. I
included female characters in
my historical novels about
Nephi and Lehi, mostly out of
my own curiosity. Through my
research, I learned so much
about the women as I wrote my
novels that I wanted to share
it with others. I searched for
books written on the women and
could only find a handful of
articles. Like many readers, I
wanted to know what it was
like to be a woman living in
Ancient Israel or Mesoamerica.
Surprisingly, only six
women are mentioned by name in
the Book of Mormon, and just
three of those six lived
during the Book of Mormon era.
The project I anticipated
taking five to six months
ended up taking a year to
complete. 2. Briefly
describe your usual writing
process.
My youngest child is in
kindergarten, so my writing
time is quite narrow and most
of it is done when the kids
are in school. When the
deadlines get closer, there
have been some early mornings
spent working. When I feel
“stuck,” research is
always the key to keeping the
project going. I set daily
word count goals so that I
know down to the exact week
that my first draft will be
finished. I read through the
draft on the computer, then
print out a hard copy. After
I’ve made some revisions,
I’ll hand off the manuscript
to several alpha readers who
give me both the good news and
the bad news. Following
another round of editing,
it’s ready to submit to the
publisher.
3. What do you hope
people come away with after
reading your book?
I hope that readers will learn
that we can draw closer to
these women by understanding
their lives, their losses, and
their triumphs. Not only can
we learn from the messages of
the stories about their
husbands and sons, but we can
discover how much the Savior
loves us through the
experiences and enduring faith
of these women.
4. What kind of
research did you do for this
book, and how long did it
take?
I’d been thinking about
writing a nonfiction book on
these women for several years,
but it wasn’t until 2008
that I started to brainstorm.
I took a proposal letter to my
critique group and discussed
it with them. They gave me
some great advice and within a
few days I submitted my
proposal to the publisher. The
publisher said they were
definitely interested, but
little did I know that it
would take me a full year to
complete the book. Every line
and every paragraph had to be
researched and it took time to
locate many of the sources.
5. What is the next
project you are working on?
I’m finishing up edits on my
next novel, Alma the
Younger, which is a
companion book to Abinadi
(2008) and Alma
(2009). Alma the Younger
will be out June 2010.
Discussion
Questions
1.
Sariah had little idea that
the journey through the
wilderness would take eight
years. If we knew how long our
trials would last, we might
give up right from the
beginning. Think of a trial
that lasted much longer than
you expected and the ways you
were able to endure the
length. 2. There are only six
women mentioned by name in the
Book of Mormon and three of
them lived during the Bible
era (Mary, Eve, Sarah). Why do
you think these women’s
stories were told by the Book
of Mormon prophets?
3. Human nature is universal,
so as we learn more about the
women of the Book of Mormon,
we discover that we have
things in common with those
ancient women. Mormon’s wife
was probably left at home a
lot while he served for
decades in the military. What
are some of our modern
struggles that mirror
Mormon’s wife’s trials?
4. Many of the women of the
Book of Mormon struggled with
wayward children, such as
Sariah with Laman and Lemuel,
and Alma’s wife with Alma
the Younger. What can we learn
from these faithful women
about having patience with
challenging children?
5. Women can be a powerful
influence for good, as well as
for bad. Even in the Book of
Mormon we see negative
examples such as the daughter
of Jared (who plotted her
grandfather’s assassination)
and Isabel (a harlot who led
Corianton astray). We have to
be ever vigilant against sin
and even its very appearance.
What are some behaviors that
we can implement to ensure we
stay faithful and pure?
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