We learn that Stephanie’s choices were motivated not by religion but a lack of faith in herself. This novel opens with Judith visiting her mother, Stephanie, who is in prison after committing a horrifying act of violence.
Cline focuses less on the infamous murders than the vulnerability of the girls who wanted so desperately to belong to something, or someone. The era’s permissive attitudes to sex, drugs and altered consciousness were born from a desire for a better world, but leaders like Manson exploited the zeitgeist for their own ends. Set in 1970s California and loosely based on the Manson Family, this novel fictionalises a time and place that created the perfect storm. But the reader is carried by the sheer force of Westover’s intellect and determination.
It’s a raw and difficult read at times Westover more forgiving of her family’s dogmatism, and the danger it puts her in, than I am. But when she first enters a classroom aged 17, a journey of self-discovery begins that takes her across boundaries and oceans, and with distance comes a new perspective. Westover spends an isolated childhood in the mountains of Idaho, her survivalist parents convinced that the End is near. But beneath the delightful eccentricity are disturbing questions about how we brainwash our children and project our fears on them.Ī coming-of-age memoir that proves the old adage that knowledge is power. Lichtarowicz had fun creating an alternative version of the creation myth, fusing mysticism with show tunes to reveal how baseless our beliefs can be. She tells her story from a hospital bed where she is recovering after a fire. The First Book of Calamity Leek by Paula LichtarowiczĬalamity is one of 12 young sisters imprisoned behind the Wall of Safekeeping by two deranged characters known only as Mother and Aunty. Atwood’s depiction is particularly powerful because many of the women are complicit in the misogyny.ģ. The Handmaid’s Tale explores the power of the word (or in this case the Word) as a weapon of control by those with an agenda. With no separation between church and state, women are subjugated in the name of God’s will. Terrifying in its credibility, this freshly relevant story imagines a dystopian future where extreme views have moved from the margins into the mainstream. A fascinating insight into a closed society that still exists,, revealing its rules and punishments.Ģ. Stott has weaved her own memories with wider research making sense of her own family’s experience as she uncovers the schism that was opening up at the very highest levels of their church. Below are 10 favourites:Īn account of growing up in the Exclusive Brethren, a separatist fundamentalist Christian cult in the UK. Perhaps that’s why we love books about cults: they rarely end with a happily ever after. In communities cut off from the wider world, tensions run higher, relationships intensify, frustrations bubble over.
But, given permission to plunder their archive (now held by a charitable trust) I discovered a familiar story: coercion and control, sexual repression and transgression, vulnerability and mental illness. These women had not fallen under the spell of a charismatic male leader they were rejecting the Church of Men and leading the charge for feminism. I was rather seduced by their terribly English gender subversion. Cult seemed an inappropriate description for this group of respectable ladies, so far removed from the horror and hedonism of sects such as Jonestown and the Manson Family.