Miah Arnold, author of 'Sweet Land of Bigamy'

Helen marries Larry, an older man, when she's a teenager. She loves him, but wants children and they can't seem to have any. Then Larry loses all his money in the stock market and decides, against her wishes, to make it back by going to work as a contractor in Iraq.

So, Helen is left alone and angry. But is that any excuse to marry a second husband?

When Helen Motes finds herself on a Utah mountaintop getting married to a besotted young Indian poet, she can't quite figure out how she became a bigamist, and she certainly doesn't want to be one. Helen worked hard to create the stable middle-class life her childhood denied her, so sabotaging her first (and decidedly still legal) marriage wasn't part of her life plan. Yet with her original husband away in Iraq, and her new husband ready to agree to everything she ever wanted, deciding which husband to keep proves to be torture.

How Helen's life led her to this point--and what she plans to do with these two "keepers"--are the driving questions behind Miah Arnold's heartfelt debut about an unlikely bigamist and her circle of family, friends, and husbands. Weaving in multiple continents and unforgettable characters, Sweet Land of Bigamy is a funny and surprisingly touching exploration of what marriage can be.

Find out more about Miah Arnold and listen to the program, on the radio or online.

• Thursday, September 6 at 9 p.m. on Montana Public Radio
• Thursday, September 6 at 6:30 p.m. on Yellowstone Public Radio
• Online, anytime at MTPR.org
• Via the MTPR podcast