Pillar of Light

A Historical Novel

By Gerald N. Lund

The saga of the Benjamin Steed family begins in the fall of 1826 with their move from Vermont to Palmyra Township in upstate New York in search of better farmland. In Palmyra, they meet a young man named Joseph Smith and are caught up in the controversy that swirls around him.
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The Work and the Glory

Like a Fire Is Burning

By Gerald N. Lund

Swept up in the drama of an infant Church expanding westward into Ohio and Missouri, the fictional Steed family members become eyewitnesses to miracles as well as the horror of mob violence.

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Truth Will Prevail

By Gerald N. Lund

Truth Will Prevail focuses on the years from 1836 - 1838. A time of remarkable and turbulent events in Church history is also a time of separation and reunion, commitment and apostasy, heartache and hope. Even as a growing spirit of apostasy permeates the Church's new home in Kirtland, Ohio, missionaries are sent overseas to England.
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Thy Gold to Refine

By Gerald N. Lund

The Steeds are reunited in Far West, Missouri, all the while animosity towards the Mormons is growing unchecked. Violence erupts and Governor Boggs issues an extermination order for the Mormons leading to the spilling of innocent blood at the Haun's Mill massacre. Far West falls, Joseph Smith is jailed, and the Mormon Saints are forced from Missouri. Even Joshua Steed takes up arms, but will he fight for or against the Mormons?

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A Season of Joy

By Gerald N. Lund

A season of rejuvenation for the Mormons as, after the horrors of the Missouri persecutions, they find refuge across the Mississippi River in Illinois, where they establish the city of Nauvoo. Despite ongoing trials, they feel that God has granted them this season of relief, hope and joy.

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Praise to the Man

By Gerald N. Lund

Nauvoo becomes well-established and at the time is the largest city in Illinois, Joseph Smith becomes a candidate for President of the United States; dark forces inside and outside of the Church work to destroy Joseph Smith and he and his brother, Hyrum, are taken to their date with destiny in a small town called Carthage.
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No Unhallowed Hand

By Gerald N. Lund

Following the deaths of Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, the future of the Church is hanging amidst a cloud of uncertainty. Through a miraculous experience Brigham Young, barely known outside the Church, steps forward to take the Church forward. The uneasy peace is broken as anti-Mormon hatred is again inflamed by angry mobs. Homes are burned and the Saints are again faced with making a voluntary exodus or suffer further violence and death. Who will go west and who will stay?
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Work and the Glory

By Gerald N. Lund

The Mormon faithful begin the long trek west in 1846 searching for their promised land. The trek proves more miraculous, challenging and costly than ever imagined. The trail is littered with human sweat, tears and graves. It is necessary for the Steeds to split up and hope for a sweet reunion at the trail's end.
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The Work and the Glory: All is well

By Gerald N. Lund

Follow the fictional Steed family from June 1846 to October 1847 as they participate in some of the most pivotal and dramatically charged events in Church history, including the migration of the Saints from the banks of the Missouri River to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake.

The Steeds have been scattered — and the family is only split up further as the story unfolds. Will and Alice's voyage aboard the Brooklyn nears its end as the ship approaches the California shore. Peter and Kathryn continue their journey westward in the Donner-Reed party. In Nauvoo,

Melissa and Carl find their situation growing increasingly dangerous and their marriage more and more strained. Other Steed family members are temporarily encamped at the Missouri River, where the Saints will set up winter quarters. When the United States government, at war with Mexico, calls for five hundred Mormon volunteers to form a battalion, some of the Steeds march with that battalion in its history-making trek across the continents. Meanwhile, other family members become part of the pioneer companies that, at last, establish in the West a place of refuge for the Saints.

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