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LDS author’s latest banned from Deseret Book

By Daily Herald - | Nov 15, 2002

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Richard Paul Evans, author of “The Christmas Box,” has a new book on the shelves — but not the shelves of Deseret Book.

The chain of bookstores, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has decided not to stock copies of the best-selling author’s latest book, “The Last Promise,” because it doesn’t meet its new standards for moral content.

Evans said he is “puzzled” by Deseret Book’s refusal to stock the book recently published by Dutton in New York.

“It happened in an awkward sort of way,” Evans said during an interview Wednesday at a Borders bookstore, where his first book signing had been moved.

“Every year I do my first book signing at Deseret Book. So, I called my staff and they said, ‘Deseret Book is not going to do the first signing with you. In fact, they’re not even going to sell your book.’ “

“I just started laughing, because I have a lot of friends at Deseret Book. Then I realized none of my staff was laughing.”

The book is about an American woman living in Italy who, in the face of an abusive relationship with her husband, turns to another man for emotional support and, eventually, romance.

Evans said he is surprised by the negative reaction, especially since the affair between the woman and her male friend is never consummated. The theme is love, not sex, he said.

“The book is not about adultery,” Evans, a practicing Mormon, said. “The book would be a PG-rated movie, at the most.”

Sheri Dew, president of Deseret Book, said it was simply a business decision.

The chain commissioned a study which showed that their customers do not like to buy books that violate “their core values,” Dew said.

As a result the store implemented guidelines telling the store’s buyers to avoid ordering books that clash with those values.

Though the process has just begun, store employees will eventually comb through all 250,000 titles in the stores’ inventory to remove other books that might offend, Dew said.

Evans said he suspects the flap will actually help the sales of his book.

“Now everyone wants to read the book and see what is so controversial,” Evans said.

“I told my 14-year-old and she said, ‘Dad, this isn’t what your book’s about, did they get the wrong bookfi’ “

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A9.

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