The story itself -or life story more specifically- is a very interesting one but the writing makes it quite hard to get through the entire book since it feels very underdeveloped and could have used someone going over it to make it much easier to read.
But its a very interesting read if you overlook the actual writing style!

This combination of personal memoir and biography of Stott’s father makes for some pretty powerful reading. On the one hand it’s a journalistic investigation into a religious sect, on the other a very personal story of being brought up in the Exclusive Brethren in the 1960s and 70s and the long-lasting effects that haunted both Rebecca Stott and her father for the rest of their lives, even once they had broken away. The Exclusive Brethren is an offshoot of the Plymouth Brethren and are a group known for keeping the members cut off from the modern world whilst they await the Rapture at the End of Days when God will save his chosen few. This closed fundamentalist and puritan group is an often cruel one, and for an atheist like myself I find it all beyond credibility. Stott is no apologist for them but nevertheless manages to make some sort of sense of their convictions and I found the book a chilling and often moving insight into a group of people I had heard little about. Yet I didn’t find myself drawn into either her life or the life of her father, whom I found a very unattractive figure, and I remained on the outside looking in throughout. Interesting, but not compelling.

On the surface this is just my type of book: a memoir written by a woman about growing up in a sect. I am fascinated my sects and their sociology and I was very eager to read this. However, I struggled from pretty much the first page. I find Rebecca Stott’s writing style clumsy and her authorial voice sounds like she does not want to write this book. Now, it is very possible that this will be addressed later, but it did not grab me within the first 20% of the book and I am not sure I will ever get back to reading this. It has since gone on to win its category in the Costa Book Award and even that does not make me any more eager to pick the book up again.

Author Rebecca Stott was raised in the separatist cult of the Exclusive Brethren from birth until a major schism saw her family finally withdraw. Stott was part of a third-generation Brethren family, and knew of no other way of life. She was forbidden all contact with outsiders and with worldly temptations such as reading novels, secular music, films; even eating in the company of outsiders was banned.

The Brethren evolved from being an isolationist Christian sect to something much darker and weirder, where members were hounded to suicide, families sundered and people withdrawn from for little or no reason. Withdrawal usually meant the loss of contact with all family members, and often one's livelihood.

Stott's father and grandfather were leading figures in the Brethren and played their part in these acts of intimidation and repression. After leaving the cult, her father had a crisis of faith which eventually did great damage to the family.

Stott's account of her ancestors initial involvement in the Brethren, and its gradual decline into a brutal cult is gripping and somewhat hair-raising. It is difficult to believe, as she intimates, that no doctor, teacher or other professional ever thought to intervene and ask what was going on with these people, rather than just look the other way.

The story of what happens after the family is finally extricated is both thoughtful and sad. Her own struggle to make sense of her life is ever-present, and one gets the sense that she will never entirely shake off the damage wrought by her formative years.

This book is a beautifully written account of a dark and secretive organisation, and the impact it had at a very personal level. It is moving, wise and compelling in equal measure.