Nibley siblings outraged over sister's book

A brother, Alex, is preparing a documentary film memoir of his father's World War II experiences, to be called "Sgt. Hugh Nibley, Ph.D." He is convinced that Martha's assertions in the book that the sexual abuse may have been triggered by her father's post-traumatic-stress syndrome is "absurd." Alex has interviewed his father for more than 20 hours on videotape and walked through various war sites with him, and said "he never had flashbacks, physical sensations, hypersensitivity or any other symptom of post-traumatic stress syndrome."

Oddly, the book's 19th century-style and acid-tongue characterizations of the LDS Church resemble something more commonly seen in anti-LDS works written by 19th-century Mormon haters. And though the attacks on her father are pointed, she never names him — or anyone else in her family. She simply refers to them as "father," "mother," "sister" and "brother."

Beck also leaves her maiden name off the book's cover, though earlier books she has had published refer to her as "Martha Nibley Beck."

Despite these strange elements, "Leaving the Saints" is ingeniously crafted, if written in too lighthearted a manner. The book begins with the author, Beck, allegedly meeting with her father in a hotel, where they can be isolated long enough for her to confront him with her claims of abuse. Hoping for an apology, she speaks of the alleged abuse in veiled terms — and asks him why he dressed up in Egyptian clothing and re-enacted the biblical Abraham sacrificing his son, Isaac. In the book, the then 91-year-old Nibley replies that such accusations are "ridiculous."

Then chapters alternately continue this hotel-room confrontation, while other chapters have Beck recalling her youth, family life and church experience. Gradually, the stories of abuse are revealed, which Beck says she had forgotten until many years later, when they were restored by "recovered memory."

Beck is a 40-ish divorced mother of three, though in the book it appears she is still married.

Filled with cliches, "Leaving the Saints" is, much of the way, a light, sometimes satirical story of young people making the best of being trapped in a strange family controlled by a rigid, fire-and-brimstone, powerful church.

The venerable, now bedridden Hugh Nibley turns 95 on March 27. His mind, according to family members, is not as sharp as it once was, but he is lucid most of the time.

Paul, the oldest son, considers the book "vicious" but he was in the Coast Guard during Martha's adolescence, so he saw her very little during those years. He is upset that Martha made a false reference to him, claiming he was restricted to "only three outfits a year from Deseret Industries." Paul said, "My mother never bought clothes at the DI — my dad did. But my clothes came from Penney's, and I never felt deprived."

Tom, a brother, said he spent most of Martha's teen years in California, but he considers the book to be "totally false. She needed a scapegoat for her own problems." Michael, who is nine years older than Martha, said the book has "many factual inaccuracies" besides the allegations of abuse. "She sees us as a group of half-grown Vikings."