One of the doctrines that distinguishes Mormonism from all other religions is the belief that only married couples can attain the highest reaches of heaven. Marriage is the backbone of Mormon society and doctrine. He was a Mormon, too, but Laake recalls that her father guided her in the direction of the 'One' (the marriage partner predestined by God) even though she had doubts about the union from the offset. After graduating from Largo High in 1970, she went to Brigham Young University in her quest for an education and an eternal partner.Īt the time, Laake said, she was in love with a boy in Largo. The couple's three sons and daughter married within the faith.ĭeborah Laake's story isn't unusual for her generation. When Laake's mother and father met, her mother's parents were scandalized that their daughter not only would marry an older, divorced man but that she also would leave the Baptist church to become a Mormon. The family then moved to Tampa, where Laake's father and his siblings were raised in the church. She was reported to be the first person in this part of Florida to be converted to the faith, and her decision was to shape the lives of her family for generations to come.Īfter she met the man who was to become her husband, she converted him. Selma Clyde Crocker, Laake's paternal grandmother, had moved from Waverly to Bartow, where she met some Mormon missionaries. Lake's editors at William Morrow compare Laake's book to Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, the autobiographical story of the young, tortured poet and to Alice Walker's The Color Purple, the novel about a black woman who overcomes domestic violence. Laake says she wrote the book at the urging of friends who 'reacted with astonishment to my stories of unimaginable rituals that had led straight to heartbreak when I was a young woman.' After I got out of the hospital after suffering a mental breakdown, I realized that most people get sick because they don't tell the truth about their lives.' What I was trying to do with it is talk about what's real. 'It is a book about the war between religious faith and personal conviction. The book was not meant to be anti-Mormon.

'I honestly don't know why I'm being hit with so much hate and condescension over a book that was meant to describe my experiences as a Mormon, not those of other church members. 'I've experienced more pure hatred in the past couple of weeks than I have in my entire life,' she said. On a recent promotional tour stop in the Tampa Bay area, Laake said she had expected some reaction, but not widespread antagonism among church members. She is a prize-winning writer and executive managing editor for New Times Inc., a chain of four alternative weekly newspapers in Phoenix, Denver, Dallas and Miami. Petersburg, was born and raised a Mormon and graduated from Largo High School.

Secret ceremonies by deborah laake