The Rapture (Hardback)
Claire McGlasson (author)- We can order this
The real-life millenarian cult of The Panacea Society is an inspired backdrop to Claire McGasson’s feverish psychological thriller. Two young recruits into the all-female society are drawn ever closer together, as their increasingly deranged leader threatens not just the stability of the organisation but the stability of their mental states as well.
Welcome to the Panacea Society, a terribly English cult...
Dilys is a devoted member of The Panacea Society, populated almost entirely by virtuous single ladies. When she strikes up a friendship with Grace, a new recruit, God finally seems to be smiling upon her.
The friends become closer as they wait for the Lord to return to their very own Garden of Eden, and Dilys feels she has found the right path at last.
But Dilys is wary of their leader's zealotry and suspicious of those who would seem to influence her for their own ends. As her feelings for Grace bud and bloom, the Society around her begins to crumble. Faith is supplanted by doubt as both women come to question what is true and fear what is real.
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 9780571345175
Number of pages: 368
Weight: 567 g
Dimensions: 216 x 153 x 25 mm
Edition: Main
MEDIA REVIEWS
'Meticulously researched, this involving, moving and disturbing read throws light on a fascinating corner of history' - The Daily Mail
'...a poignant story of misplaced faith and unexpected love' - The Sunday Times
'A remarkable story, remarkably told... I loved it. Claire McGlasson is a brave and brilliant new voice in fiction.' - Jess Kidd, author of Himself and Things in Jars
'Gripping, unsettling and ultimately extremely moving. It is a tale beautifully and sensitively told that continues to haunt me.' - Ruth Hogan, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Keeper of Lost Things
You may also be interested in...
“Eerie and Compelling”
Who doesn't like a good creepy book about weird cults? What I didn't realise until finishing this thoroughly unsettling novel was that it had a basis in fact. The Panacea Society was founded in 1919 and was... More
“A Very British Cult”
A strange and intriguing historical novel about a (very real!) 1920s religious cult for well-mannered ladies.
Where some commandments from God are pretty straightfoward, the ones that Octavia, the daughter of God,...
More
“"Sometimes we cling to the very thing that is pulling us down."”
‘The Rapture’ is set in my home town of Bedford during the 1920’s. I already had a vague awareness of the Panacea Society and their leader Octavia and in fact, the Panacea Society museum is only a five minute walk... More
Please sign in to write a review
Sign In / Register
Sign In
Download the Waterstones App
Would you like to proceed to the App store to download the Waterstones App?
Click & Collect
Please note that owing to current COVID-19 restrictions, many of our shops are closed. Find out more by clicking here.