"Tradition says that Vardis Fisher completely rejected his Mormon background, and that, in turn, he was rejected by the Mormon community. Cassie Hyde Hock, who did the first comprehensive study of fictional, works in which Mormons were principal characters, indicates that Fisher was "excommunicated for his frankness in portraying Mormon life as he knew it." With the exception of Joseph Flora, other biographers have dwelt on his early rebellion against a rigid Puritan upbringing and his frequent derisive comments on Joseph Smith and Mormon bishops. Even Flora states that Fisher left the Church at age eighteen and that Mormon authorities "officially repudiated" children of God." [Publisher's abstract]