PREDATORS, PREY AND OTHER KINFOLK, by Dorothy Allred Solomon, W.W. Norton, 398 pages. $24.95.
In a new autobiography, "Predators, Prey and Other Kinfolk," local author Dorothy Solomon tells of growing up as the 28th child of polygamist Rulon Allred.
Allred, as most Utahns will remember, was the naturopath who was murdered in 1977, shot by members of a rival polygamist group led by Ervil LeBaron.
The murder was not the only drama in Solomon's family. Before she was born, her father served a jail sentence for polygamy. Then, when Solomon was 5 and it seemed that federal agents were again on his trail, she and her mother and some of the other wives and children fled to Mexico and hid out for a time. They were afraid that social workers would take the children. They were also afraid the wives would go to jail.
The LeBarons came to Mexico, too, as Solomon recalls. She remembers being afraid of them.
Soon after the Allreds returned to the United States, Rulon's families scattered. For years they lived separately, avoiding detection. Solomon and her brothers and mother were in Nevada.
Solomon describes all the upheaval and intrigue in a straightforward way. She is understated, almost dry. Thus, the title of the book is too lurid for the text.
That aside, Solomon does not describe her father as a predator. Nor does she see her mother or herself as his prey. She describes Rulon Allred as a sincere man. Yet he believed in a principle long-abandoned by the LDS Church. He was at odds with neighbors and government.
In many ways, Solomon's childhood was fine. Her parents loved her. She got on well with her grandmother and most of her father's other wives. She had lots of siblings to play with.
Unfortunately, however, her father was stretched too thin. There was not enough money. His 48 children did not get enough of his attention, and neither did his wives. Solomon's mother was often depressed. Solomon blames polygamy for all of this.
Also, because they lived outside the law, they had to isolate themselves. The children had to lie to their teachers and classmates. No matter what the emergency, the adults didn't dare call the police, and they were afraid to go to a hospital.
All in all, as Solomon describes it, polygamy was an unhealthy way to grow up.
As an adult, Solomon joined the LDS Church and now has a monogamous marriage. She looks back on her early life and writes: How could we, as children in such a setting, see the gap between idealism and day-to-day reality? How could we know concepts like "paranoia" and "delusion"? Since we dared not trust the world, we trusted my father as surveyor and purveyor of truth, and the way he saw it was the way it was. . . . He was our definition of "sane."
Utah readers will find fascinating local details in Solomon's history. Take the story of how her father's first wife left him when he decided to practice plural marriage: The first wife wrote to LDS Church President Heber J. Grant, telling him of her heartbreak. And she got a reply. Solomon's father wrote to President Grant as well. But Rulon Allred's letters went unanswered. Ultimately, Allred was excommunicated. The first wife and President Grant continued to correspond over the years. She continued to be sad, and he continued to give her ecclesiastical advice. Readers who live outside of Utah may not be struck by this — by how much smaller the LDS Church was only one generation ago.
Most of the facts are known to anyone who ever took a Utah history class. But will readers who are not LDS or don't live in Utah be interested in the details? Hard to say. It seems likely, however, that they will be interested in Solomon's life — and in her father's.
E-MAIL: susan@desnews.com