‘Truth Will Prevail’: Reimagining British Mormon Heritage as Historical Fiction

In 1837, Mormon missionaries arriving in Lancashire encountered a political rally in Preston town square. Impressed by an election banner with the slogan ‘Truth Will Prevail,’ they adopted this as their own motto – a declaration both of spiritual truth and predicted future success. This small act of appropriation, along with its unintentional erasure of political and social context, has set the tone for many subsequent mediations of church history: narratives that emphasise the heroism of American missionaries, the humble faith of British converts and the inevitable emigration to a religious centre across the Atlantic.

I will draw both on my experience growing up in Preston, wrestling with the complexities of British Mormon identity, and my research as a writer currently completing a historical novel set in 1842. The novel explores the legacy of the early British missions, both on characters who emigrate to America, and those who stay behind. I will read an extract from the novel and share insights from the research process: bringing together religious, political and social context and drawing on archival sources to reimagine and complicate my Mormon heritage.

Naomi Krüger is a writer and Senior Lecturer in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Central Lancashire. Her debut novel, May, was published in 2018 by Seren and highly commended in the Yeovil Novel Prize. In 2021 she was awarded an Eccles Centre Fellowship at the British Library to explore transatlantic connections of faith, conversion, and emigration in early Mormonism as part of the research for her second novel. Her short fiction has been anthologised and published in literary journals. Most recently, her story ‘In My Father’s House are Many Mansions’ – which is set in a contemporary LDS chapel and explores childlessness, gender roles and eternal polygamy – was shortlisted for the Galley Beggar Press Prize for Short Fiction.

Keep up to date on Naomi’s work: https://www.naomikruger.com/
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