Her Quiet Revolution: A Novel of Martha Hughes Cannon is inspiring historical fiction. Author Marianne Monson brings Martha Hughes Cannon’s impressive accomplishments to light with articulate writing and thorough research. Readers will get to know Martha — aka Mattie — and understand the challenges facing women in the nineteenth century. Mattie is likeable and portrayed as a bright and hard-working woman with hopes and dreams. The story includes lots of well-known figures from the Utah territory and captures the time period well. Readers will especially enjoy Mattie’s journey to Wales, Welsh folktales, and training to become a doctor. Through well-constructed writing, Monson evokes the anguish Mattie must also have felt as a polygamous wife. Her Quiet Revolution is a strong work with a powerful message about the importance of education and hard-work despite all obstacles. 

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Shadow Mountain

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  None

Violence/Gore:  A verbal threat is made; several secondhand reports of violence include a doctor being beaten by guards, children hit on the head and women hung for witchcraft; a brief scene of violence involves a character slapping another. 

Sex/Nudity:  A few incidents of kissing; a sexual reference made in a medical school classroom; a few implied incidents of sexual activity regarding an affair and the mention of brothels. 

Mature Subject Matter:

Death of family members, death of a child, child abuse, polygamy, hiding and evading the law, dissecting bodies for science, discrimination and prejudice against women, racism, feminism, women’s right to vote, a mention of death due to poor mental health, ancient women healers, taxidermy. 

Alcohol / Drug Use:

A mother sneaks sips of whiskey throughout the day; talk of a ‘brutal and drunken husband’; a few characters smoke.