Locally published books

'TIL THE BOYS COME HOME: A WORLD WAR I NOVEL, by Jerry Borrowman, Covenant, 424 pages, $22.95, hardcover. The story of Danny O'Brian and Trevor Richards, who leave Pocatello, Idaho, to fight in World War I. Danny fights in the trenches, and Trevor fights in the skies. This is a sweeping story of friendship in the frightening backdrop of war.

THE FIRST WIFE, by Brenda Jensen Diepeveen, American Classic Books, Salt Lake City, 300 pages, $22, softcover. The story of Mary Ann Rock Williams Pugh, who converted to the LDS Church in England in 1840. The author is her great-great-granddaughter, who tells about the difficult life of a pioneer woman who emigrated to Utah. It is based on Pugh's autobiography.

APPLE PIES AND PROMISES: MOTHERHOOD IN THE REAL WORLD, compiled by Linda Hoffman Kimball, Cedar Fort Press, 124 pages, $9.95, softcover. The author, an LDS convert who lives in Illinois, has compiled real-world experiences, complexities and "mixed blessings" of LDS women and motherhood.

PRINCIPLES OF LOVE: HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY PARENT YOUR ADULT CHILDREN, by Garth A. Hanson and Steve D. Hanson, Covenant, 225 pages, $15.95, softcover. This book purports to be a practical guide to parenting from ordinary LDS people who currently serve as lay church leaders. The style is textbookish with questions and answers and lists dominating.

THE BELIEVER, by Stephanie Black, Covenant, 337 pages, $15.95, softcover. The author is an LDS mother of five, who resides in northern California. She graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in history. Her book is a fantasy/thriller book that portrays a "New America" where freedoms have been constrained. The LDS Church and the Book of Mormon play only supporting roles in a story that is dominated by conflict.

LOSING A LOST TRIBE: NATIVE AMERICANS, DNA, AND THE MORMON CHURCH, by Simon G. Southerton, Signature Books, 270 pages, $24.95, softcover. This is a scientific study written by an LDS research scientist from Australia. From a scientific point of view, he analyzes ideas of "a chosen race," "a promised land," "Lamanites in the Latter Days" and "Faith Promoting Science."

JUMPING OFF PLACES, by Laura Stratton Friel, Council Press, Springville, 323 pages, $18.95, softcover. This is a novel about Nell Baker Mortenson, a headstrong pioneer woman who takes an epic journey west to build a new life with the man she loves — Tom Mortenson, who follows Brigham Young to the Salt Lake Valley. The author teaches English at Dixie College.