Brigham Young had dozens of wives and numerous children, but none have better name recognition than Susa Young Gates. Yet she, like so many women of Mormonism’s past, has remained a mystery to most church members. In Susa Young Gates, Romney Burke paints a portrait of a strong woman who rose to prominence within the church, fought for the rights of women throughout the country, yet dealt with personal trials and her share of heartbreak. 

After divorcing her first husband, Alma Dunford, the trauma associated with that union was such that she steadfastly refused to mention it ever again. She also lost some of her children over the course of her life and was unable to reconcile her older sister’s departure from the LDS Church and conversion to Catholicism. Yet despite her trials, Susa found fulfillment in her faith through service, as a prolific writer—co-authoring with her daughter Leah Dunford Widtsoe the 1930 biography of her father, Life Story of Brigham Young, founding the Young Women’s Journal in 1889, the Relief Society Magazine in 1915, and in her associations with such prominent women’s advocates such as Susan B. Anthony. 

Romney Burke is a retired surgeon. He later taught English at Ocean University of China in Qingdao under the auspices of Brigham Young University for two years and spent eighteen months in Brazil as a medical advisor for LDS missionaries there. He and his wife, Mary Sue, recently completed a mission to Hong Kong.