Keep Sweet: Children of Polygamy [Paperback]

Debbie Palmer (Author), Dave Perrin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 14, 2004

Keep Sweet: Children of Polygamy, co-authored by Debbie Palmer and best-selling author, Dave Perrin, journals Deb Palmer's experiences growing up as a child in a community where plural marriages and religious dogma were the norm.

Debbie was married to three different men - the first time at the age of fifteen – during her thirty-three years with the group of Mormon Fundamentalists in the community of Bountiful near Creston, BC. She was subjected to emotional, physical and sexual abuse. It was when she saw this cycle repeating itself in her children's lives that she fled Bountiful. Deb Palmer was profiled on CBC's The National, The Journal and The Fifth Estate; Global's Leaving Bountiful; and CTV's documentary for Prime Time News. A clip from the Fifth Estate documentary featuring Debbie Palmer has been aired twice on Oprah.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Debbie Palmer

Debbie Palmer was taken to a polygamous community now called Bountiful near Creston, B.C., at two years of age. She is the oldest of 47 children. Her mother was the first of six wives and passed away at 23 years of age. Debbie was married at fifteen as sixth wife of 55-year-old leader of the Canadian group under the direction of the "prophet" from Colorado City, Arizona. After just three years, her first husband died of leukemia and she was assigned as fifth wife to another man 40 years her senior. After a schism in the leadership of the polygamous group divided members, she was given a "release" from the second husband and assigned to a third. She managed to escape the community pregnant with her seventh child after years of trauma and abuse.

Debbie lives in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, with eight children and has pursued academic studies. She is a human rights activist, a community crime prevention educator and advocate, and author of various bodies of research. She has consulted with and been the subject of several documentaries on the topic of polygamy in North America.

David Perrin

David Perrin was raised in a small community near Trail and attended Selkirk College before moving on to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He earned his degree as Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon.

Since 2000, Dr. Perrin's publishing company, Dave's Press, has released three best-selling books about his Kootenay practice. Don't Turn Your Back in the Barn, Dr. Dave's Stallside Manner and Where Does it Hurt? Don't Turn Your Back in the Barn has also been published in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. As well, Sony has optioned it for publication in Japan. The book concepts are currently under consideration for a CBC television series.

David Perrin, co-author of Palmer's story, has also been connected to individuals represented in this book, Keep Sweet: Children of Polygamy. Dave lives in the Creston Valley and continues to write.

Product Details

• Paperback: 393 pages
• Publisher: Dave's Press Ltd (December 14, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0968794335
• ISBN-13: 978-0968794333
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,253,848 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Child Bride in a Polygamous Community, July 19, 2005

By 

Gordon Neufeld (Schenectady, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Keep Sweet: Children of Polygamy (Paperback)

This is an eye-opening memoir of what it was like for a young girl, who later herself became a "celestial" (polygamous) bride of a much older man, to grow up in a Canadian community of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons who practice polygamy contrary to the teachings of the mainstream Mormon church). The Canadian community is affiliated to the larger one in Colorado City, Arizona. It is clear that having multiple brides is a recipe for men to behave arrogantly and selfishly, and for women to struggle with inevitable jealousy and resentment. My one complaint about this book is that it needed a little trimming; it is a long memoir that does not even take the reader up to the point where the author, Debbie Palmer, finally leaves the community. I would have liked to have learned how this came about. But written in this way, you get a day-by-day account of what it is like to be a young girl in such a community.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Eye opener, February 17, 2008

By 

Flossie "Book addict" (Vancouver BC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Keep Sweet: Children of Polygamy (Paperback)

This book was truly an eye opener. So many girls are being abused under this religion, it seems we are all allowing this right under our noses. I am just amazed at the amount of brainwashing going on with all this unfortunate people.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Amazing Read., September 9, 2011

By 

Elaine Baer "EBaer: Certified Interventionist" (Malibu, CA / Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Keep Sweet: Children of Polygamy (Paperback)

Debbie, if you read this by chance, please know that this gentile prays for you and your continued recovery. I have just re-read your book and have requested that it be available for Kindle. You have come so far. Sometimes it's hard to see the beauty while your in the weeds. This well written book should be in the academic corriculum for every FLDS child. It's a page turner.