Paperback · print-on-demand · ISBN 978-0692190722
The Crick Code
A novel based on the memoirs of a girl raised in the FLDS community of Colorado City.
Forced to flee her childhood home and biological father due to a declaration from the Prophet, Becca, her mother, and siblings relocate to “The Crick” — where polygamous families have forged an FLDS utopia. Becca struggles to make sense of her new relationship with an outcast dad, and the code of the Prophet, which promises a superior existence in exchange for strict obedience.
Blanketed by apocalyptic prophecies of world destruction for unbelievers and looming threats of being declared an apostate, she strives to “Keep Sweet” alongside an enormous new family — three mothers, a new father, dozens of brothers and sisters. Underneath the beauty of wholesome childhood adventures with family and friends is an aching awareness that something isn’t right as she grows into womanhood and realizes her future is not her own.
She must break the code before it is too late.
Fiction. Based on real memory.
The events in The Crick Code happened. The people in it are real. Names, some places, and small details have been changed to protect the people who remain in the community, and to preserve the privacy of the woman whose childhood these pages hold. We label the book as fiction only because of those changes — and because some memories have been condensed to flow as a story rather than an itemized record. Every emotional beat is true to the girl who lived it.
Frequently asked questions
Is this a memoir or a novel?
Both, in a way. It is a novel because names, some places, and some sequences have been changed. Every experience that shapes the story is drawn from real memory.
What is the FLDS?
The FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) is a polygamous religious group that broke from the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early 1900s over the practice of polygamy. It is a distinct church — not the same organization as the mainstream LDS Church. Its historic community centers include Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah — known to insiders as “The Crick.”
What does “Keep Sweet” mean?
“Keep Sweet” is an instruction repeated to FLDS women and girls: stay compliant, stay soft-spoken, stay obedient to the priesthood, no matter what is asked. It is the phrase you hear in your head every time your voice starts to rise.
Where can I buy it?
The Crick Code is available on Amazon in paperback (print-on-demand). Buy it here.