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The Followers
On the windswept moors of northern England, a small religious cult has cut itself off from society, believing they have found meaning in a purposeless world. Led by their prophet, Nathaniel, they eagerly await the end times. But when the prophet brings in Stephanie and her rebellious daughter Judith, the group’s delicate dynamic is disturbed. Judith is determined to escape, but her feelings are complicated by a growing friendship with another of the children, the naive and trusting Moses, who has never experienced the outside world.
Meanwhile, someone else is having doubts, unleashing a horrifying chain of events that will destroy the followers’ lives.
In the aftermath, the survivors struggle to adjust to the real world, haunted by the same questions: if you’ve been persuaded to surrender your individual will, are you still responsible for your actions? And is there any way back?
Meanwhile, someone else is having doubts, unleashing a horrifying chain of events that will destroy the followers’ lives.
In the aftermath, the survivors struggle to adjust to the real world, haunted by the same questions: if you’ve been persuaded to surrender your individual will, are you still responsible for your actions? And is there any way back?
340 pages, Paperback
First published May 21, 2015
49 people are currently reading
2161 people want to read
About the author
Rebecca Wait
7 books305 followersRebecca Wait is the author of five novels, most recently Havoc.
I’m Sorry You Feel That Way was a book of the year for The Times, Guardian, Express, Good Housekeeping and BBC Culture, and was shortlisted for the Nota Bene Prize.
Our Fathers, received widespread acclaim and was a Guardian book of the year and a thriller of the month for Waterstones.
I’m Sorry You Feel That Way was a book of the year for The Times, Guardian, Express, Good Housekeeping and BBC Culture, and was shortlisted for the Nota Bene Prize.
Our Fathers, received widespread acclaim and was a Guardian book of the year and a thriller of the month for Waterstones.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 141 reviews
September 7, 2017
Review soon.
June 4, 2023
'Everyone's weak,' Moses said. 'We need God to make us strong. But women are weakest of all.'
'Stop repeating stuff,' she snapped. 'You're just repeating stuff he's said. You're stupid and wrong.'
A can't-put-it-down look at a small religious separatist cult of The Ark of God on the Yorkshire Moors led by a charismatic and self-named 'prophet' who predicts the end of days.
It's both bewildering and fascinating trying to understand why people are drawn to, and become enmeshed in, these sorts of groups and Wait does a fine job of exploring the psychology and dynamics at work through this novel. The book is never superior, never looks down on the members, and the story is written with a sort of clear-eyed compassion, especially for the women who are involved.
In the foreground is Stephanie, a young single mother struggling with a menial job in a café and little self-esteem, and her bolshie, rebellious twelve year old daughter, Judith. When the magnetic Nathaniel takes an interest in Stephanie her world opens up and, desperate to believe this is true love, she soon follows him to what initially looks like a commune - until she realises no-one can leave and return.
What struck me reading this is the extent to which Nathaniel's playbook is the same one used by men in controlling, coercive and abusive relationships: the all-encompassing love narrative, the separation from friends and family, the handing over of money to create economic dependency, the gaslighting that leaves the woman feeling that any conflicts are her fault for 'not understanding', the gradual introduction of violence that she 'forces' him to inflict for her own 'good' and which escalates, the misogynistic viewpoint that confines the woman to kitchen or bedroom.
But where this left me feeling puzzled is understanding how the dynamics between Nathaniel and the men in the cult works - to some extent there's a sort of alpha-male with his pack followers dynamic but the book doesn't really go there. Similarly, it doesn't flesh out most of the characters who are mere walk-on players with names attached so we don't understand their psychology. This does narrow down the interest of the book.
That said, the focus serves to give an intense reading experience as the plotline unwinds. It's especially chilling to see the apocalyptic dogma of sin, Satan and salvation in the mouth of the children like Moses born into The Ark and never having known anything else.
In the end Nathaniel is also an enigma: was he always a conman and arch-manipulator on a path to power? was he once a genuine believer who became corrupted by his own mythologising? We don't know. But we do see how the lives he touches are devastated.
So this doesn't offer up all the answers I wanted - but maybe that would have been glib and superficial anyway. I found what it does absorbing and engrossing, and ultimately moving in the very unsentimentality of the tainted mother-daughter relationship at its heart.
January 25, 2022
This got better and better. A very good fictional account of life inside a cult.
March 11, 2016
The Followers centres on Stephanie and Judith, a thirtysomething single mother and her 12-year-old daughter stuck in a mundane cycle of life in a small Northern town. Stephanie is working in a drab café and struggling to make ends meet when she meets a handsome, charismatic man called Nathaniel. The impact of their ensuing relationship is life-changing for her, and so she allows herself to be manipulated into joining the Ark, a religious group he is a part of. With no belief in gods or God, Stephanie's motivation for going along with this is her love for Nathaniel and the injection of happiness and interest he has brought her: it says much about his motives that he doesn't care. When Stephanie and Judith go to Nathaniel's remote home on the moors, they find he is in fact the leader of this dour clique, who refer to him always as 'the prophet'. Soon after, they also learn they will never be able to leave. While Stephanie attempts to embrace her new life, Judith rebels, but since The Followers opens with Stephanie in prison, we already know it's she who will pay the ultimate price for their involvement with the Ark.
While the promise of a story about a cult - an endlessly fascinating topic - is what made me want to read this (and read it quickly), I ended up being more interested in the detail than the bigger picture. Wait excels at the kind of bleak ordinariness that Jenn Ashworth does well: the horror of it, but also the beauty to be found in it, most palpable in the contrast between Stephanie and Judith's prior life and their existence in the Ark. What seem like banalities in the 'real world' become much-missed home comforts once their austere new life begins. They seem to have a lack of ties to their old home, but this is revealed as an illusion as soon as they are separated from it. Judith's life in the later sections of the narrative - now in her twenties, she's depressed and caught in a cycle of addiction, getting drunk at work and taking handfuls of prescription pills - creates a similar contrast, this time with the aim of showing how her childhood experiences and her mother's incarceration have shaped the rest of her life.
Meanwhile, the Ark itself was the falling-down point for me. The sheer amount of time it's survived without anyone questioning it (there are children Judith's age who were born there and have never seen anything of the outside world) or it being discovered. How is it financed? A couple of the men go out to work, but would that really be enough to sustain a whole community, including six or seven kids? (While the adult Ark members share duties like cooking, it doesn't seem they grow their own vegetables, farm their own meat, or make their own clothes.) Have none of them ever had to go to a doctor for anything? The more you think about it, the more it falls apart. The years these events are supposed to take place aren't pinpointed exactly, but in the 'past' narrative, before Stephanie and Judith join the group, they're watching DVDs and buying things on the internet, so the setting, time period-wise, is obviously very up-to-date. That adds to the unlikeliness of the Ark remaining hidden; I can appreciate, though, that stranger things have been known to happen in real life.
I simply wanted to know more - more about the Ark's beginnings, more about Nathaniel's background and how he became the figure we meet in the main story. The children's viewpoints began to annoy me towards the end, as I longed for a more sophisticated take on the 'liberation' of the Ark. This was a good story with some really strong details, but it just felt too light to do justice to the questions raised in its examination of the mentality of cult members.
While the promise of a story about a cult - an endlessly fascinating topic - is what made me want to read this (and read it quickly), I ended up being more interested in the detail than the bigger picture. Wait excels at the kind of bleak ordinariness that Jenn Ashworth does well: the horror of it, but also the beauty to be found in it, most palpable in the contrast between Stephanie and Judith's prior life and their existence in the Ark. What seem like banalities in the 'real world' become much-missed home comforts once their austere new life begins. They seem to have a lack of ties to their old home, but this is revealed as an illusion as soon as they are separated from it. Judith's life in the later sections of the narrative - now in her twenties, she's depressed and caught in a cycle of addiction, getting drunk at work and taking handfuls of prescription pills - creates a similar contrast, this time with the aim of showing how her childhood experiences and her mother's incarceration have shaped the rest of her life.
Meanwhile, the Ark itself was the falling-down point for me. The sheer amount of time it's survived without anyone questioning it (there are children Judith's age who were born there and have never seen anything of the outside world) or it being discovered. How is it financed? A couple of the men go out to work, but would that really be enough to sustain a whole community, including six or seven kids? (While the adult Ark members share duties like cooking, it doesn't seem they grow their own vegetables, farm their own meat, or make their own clothes.) Have none of them ever had to go to a doctor for anything? The more you think about it, the more it falls apart. The years these events are supposed to take place aren't pinpointed exactly, but in the 'past' narrative, before Stephanie and Judith join the group, they're watching DVDs and buying things on the internet, so the setting, time period-wise, is obviously very up-to-date. That adds to the unlikeliness of the Ark remaining hidden; I can appreciate, though, that stranger things have been known to happen in real life.
I simply wanted to know more - more about the Ark's beginnings, more about Nathaniel's background and how he became the figure we meet in the main story. The children's viewpoints began to annoy me towards the end, as I longed for a more sophisticated take on the 'liberation' of the Ark. This was a good story with some really strong details, but it just felt too light to do justice to the questions raised in its examination of the mentality of cult members.
November 23, 2025
Felt a bit lackluster, but this author definitely got better. Our Fathers was phenomenal.
October 25, 2017
The Followers is a not-so-subtle allegory on its surface, but the nuanced characters and telltale story by British writer Wait keeps it contemporary, fresh, and provocative. It begins now, with a young woman, Judith, reluctantly visiting her mother, Stephanie, in prison. It’s evident that this is an ongoing yet uncomfortable face-to-face, where the conversation stays safe with topics of movies and books. At home, Judith isolates and chooses unhealthy habits in order to escape from the memories of childhood—specifically what landed her mother in prison. Throughout the tale of this mother/daughter relationship, the narrative goes back and forth to the past and the present. The future of their recovery is at stake, and we feel it with a brittle intensity.
Stephanie raised Judith as a single mother, protective but tired from work, trying to be mother and father simultaneously but feeling a failure at that. Stephanie’s friction with her own mother is cutting enough, but Judith, a fun-loving fan of popular culture, accuses her mother of not listening to her—ever.
When Stephanie falls for an intense, inscrutable man named Nathaniel and brings him home to meet Judith, the conflicts escalate. Nathaniel convinces Stephanie to leave mainstream society and join the “Ark,” a religious cult high on the moors and devoted to God. A number of adults and children live there and Nathaniel is the charismatic leader.
A distressed Judith unwillingly joins her mother at the Ark as Stephanie is so besotted by Nathaniel, “the prophet,” she is willing to remove herself from society and follow the Old Testament mores, even though she herself is more agnostic. And then—nothing—not Nathaniel, the creed, or the lifestyle is what it seemed from the outset. The precarious equilibrium with no more substance than a house of cards, but while you’re in it, you believe.
Wait does a superb job of creating the atmosphere of the Ark, archaic and implacable, with a haunting reminder of isolation from the moors. All the members must change their names to biblical ones, and the laws of the dogma require unconditional subservience. Technology is limited, and the women spend their days cooking and cleaning, while some of the men leave to work in “Gehenna,”—their name for the outside world that Judith and Stephanie have left. Judith finds solace in Moses, a boy around her age who was born with what is evident as a port wine stain on his face, but which the prophet has denoted a mark of the devil due to the story of his birth. He helps Judith to adjust to the Ark, and she edifies him about so-called Gehenna, a place he’s never been because he was born at the Ark. They form a close bond and have a secret meeting place where they talk and learn a sense of real play and unrestricted dialogue.
The pacing and sense of foreshadowing is palpable and purposeful, as of course we know from the start that Stephanie is in prison. The foreboding sense of tragedy is in every shadow and in every corner of the Ark, and I was on edge while Wait brilliantly built the architecture of the story toward its cataclysmic climax. As Stephanie’s hopefulness turns to despair, she realizes too late that she made wrong decisions in trying to remake herself in the image that Nathaniel demanded.
“Your thoughts are wicked from the day you were born,” says the prophet, Nathaniel. The followers live in grim sacrifice and bare necessities, ingrained with the paradigm of good and evil, blood for atonement, and punishment for violations. Being human, possessing desires is judged by the prophet and everyone else is a follower. The suspense, survival, and hope for reclamation will keep us fastened till the very last page.
Stephanie raised Judith as a single mother, protective but tired from work, trying to be mother and father simultaneously but feeling a failure at that. Stephanie’s friction with her own mother is cutting enough, but Judith, a fun-loving fan of popular culture, accuses her mother of not listening to her—ever.
When Stephanie falls for an intense, inscrutable man named Nathaniel and brings him home to meet Judith, the conflicts escalate. Nathaniel convinces Stephanie to leave mainstream society and join the “Ark,” a religious cult high on the moors and devoted to God. A number of adults and children live there and Nathaniel is the charismatic leader.
A distressed Judith unwillingly joins her mother at the Ark as Stephanie is so besotted by Nathaniel, “the prophet,” she is willing to remove herself from society and follow the Old Testament mores, even though she herself is more agnostic. And then—nothing—not Nathaniel, the creed, or the lifestyle is what it seemed from the outset. The precarious equilibrium with no more substance than a house of cards, but while you’re in it, you believe.
Wait does a superb job of creating the atmosphere of the Ark, archaic and implacable, with a haunting reminder of isolation from the moors. All the members must change their names to biblical ones, and the laws of the dogma require unconditional subservience. Technology is limited, and the women spend their days cooking and cleaning, while some of the men leave to work in “Gehenna,”—their name for the outside world that Judith and Stephanie have left. Judith finds solace in Moses, a boy around her age who was born with what is evident as a port wine stain on his face, but which the prophet has denoted a mark of the devil due to the story of his birth. He helps Judith to adjust to the Ark, and she edifies him about so-called Gehenna, a place he’s never been because he was born at the Ark. They form a close bond and have a secret meeting place where they talk and learn a sense of real play and unrestricted dialogue.
The pacing and sense of foreshadowing is palpable and purposeful, as of course we know from the start that Stephanie is in prison. The foreboding sense of tragedy is in every shadow and in every corner of the Ark, and I was on edge while Wait brilliantly built the architecture of the story toward its cataclysmic climax. As Stephanie’s hopefulness turns to despair, she realizes too late that she made wrong decisions in trying to remake herself in the image that Nathaniel demanded.
“Your thoughts are wicked from the day you were born,” says the prophet, Nathaniel. The followers live in grim sacrifice and bare necessities, ingrained with the paradigm of good and evil, blood for atonement, and punishment for violations. Being human, possessing desires is judged by the prophet and everyone else is a follower. The suspense, survival, and hope for reclamation will keep us fastened till the very last page.
August 8, 2017
What would cause a normal person to lose all sense of individuality and right and wrong, and slavishly follow a charismatic leader? From the Manson murders to the Jonestown tragedy, we’ve seen the magnetic pull of the cult on those with porous boundaries, yet still, the topic is fascinating. Perhaps that’s why novelists – from Margaret Atwood to Claire Vaye Watkins – gravitate to the subject.
Rebecca Wait goes back to this well in The Followers—vividly and convincingly spinning a cautionary tale of single mother named Stephanie, working in a dispiriting job, who falls into the spell of a messianic man with dashing green eyes. It is the mundaneness of the situation that fuels its power: Nathaniel woos her with attention, flattery, and sympathy, slowly spinning the web around her. By the time she casts her lot with him, the situation feels all too believable. Unwillingly snared into this web is her daughter Julia, a clear-eyed 12 year old, who isn’t fooled by Nathaniel’s charms and the zombie-like following of his cult, the Ark.
As the inevitable plot plays out (we know from the start that Stephanie winds up behind bars and we surmise that she took place in a killing of some kind), the environment sets the stage. Think Wuthering Heights. Here in the isolated moors, jagged rocks stand out and the wind and the rain make it even more foreboding. There’s an air of tension that remains: will Stephanie completely succumb, despite her first-hand knowledge that Nathaniel is not the personal savior he appeared to be? Will Julia be worn down by the endless proselytizing of the cult members?
The prose in this novel is spare yet muscular, page-turning yet measured. The book has much to say about the dangers of misinterpreted faith and the responsibilities to others versus to oneself. And it also demonstrates how evil can masquerade as ordinary behavior. I’ve learned to expect fine books form Europa Editions, and this one certainly exceeded expectations.
Rebecca Wait goes back to this well in The Followers—vividly and convincingly spinning a cautionary tale of single mother named Stephanie, working in a dispiriting job, who falls into the spell of a messianic man with dashing green eyes. It is the mundaneness of the situation that fuels its power: Nathaniel woos her with attention, flattery, and sympathy, slowly spinning the web around her. By the time she casts her lot with him, the situation feels all too believable. Unwillingly snared into this web is her daughter Julia, a clear-eyed 12 year old, who isn’t fooled by Nathaniel’s charms and the zombie-like following of his cult, the Ark.
As the inevitable plot plays out (we know from the start that Stephanie winds up behind bars and we surmise that she took place in a killing of some kind), the environment sets the stage. Think Wuthering Heights. Here in the isolated moors, jagged rocks stand out and the wind and the rain make it even more foreboding. There’s an air of tension that remains: will Stephanie completely succumb, despite her first-hand knowledge that Nathaniel is not the personal savior he appeared to be? Will Julia be worn down by the endless proselytizing of the cult members?
The prose in this novel is spare yet muscular, page-turning yet measured. The book has much to say about the dangers of misinterpreted faith and the responsibilities to others versus to oneself. And it also demonstrates how evil can masquerade as ordinary behavior. I’ve learned to expect fine books form Europa Editions, and this one certainly exceeded expectations.
June 17, 2015
This story of a small religious cult, known as the Ark, in a remote moorland setting is interesting enough, though the inevitable ending is so clear from the start that when the 'shock' comes it isn't too shocking. Some of it felt underwritten - the writing is a bit sparse at times, and I would have liked more detail of the lives of the cult followers, more insight into how it feels to devote yourself so totally that you lose your sense of who you are, more sense of the charisma of the leader - I felt we were told that things were the case, e.g. the compelling nature of the leader, without really being made to feel them. Quite a few of the minor characters were flat, to the extent of being interchangeable, and some of them seemed to cast off the beliefs they had lived by for years rather quickly at the end. I also didn't get enough of a sense of the intense shock and terror I'd imagine would be felt by the child characters, who had been born in the Ark and had never left it, when they are finally taken away into the 'real' world, which they have been taught to fear as a hellhole of sin. Overall, I just felt this needed more colour, richness and emotional depth. But it's readable enough and the two main young characters, Judith and Moses, are well drawn.
May 27, 2023
An easy, absorbing read. Good on the claustrophobia of cult life, but hazy on the initial attraction to the cult leader, how it changed and what life inside did to the adherents (other than not being very good for them!). Wasn't the attraction more than having penetrating eyes and a soft hypnotic voice?
May 22, 2024
I find it fascinating to read about how people get recruited into a cult and how it transforms them. The Followers is one of those books, and it didn't disappoint. The story escalated in the last quarter of the book, and I couldn't stop reading.
The one criticism I have is that Nathaniel's reasons to form a cult were never explained. It would be good to understand his intentions and more of his background.
The one criticism I have is that Nathaniel's reasons to form a cult were never explained. It would be good to understand his intentions and more of his background.
December 29, 2015
There is, of course, a religious death cult that is attracting lots of followers in Britain today, but it has no connexion with Christianity. I’d have thought there was about as much need in contemporary England for warnings against Christian cults as for fire insurance in February 2014 in the Somerset Levels. But even before reading the author’s afterword I’d a sense that she’d once had a brush with something of the sort, and I thought The Followers was an excellent depiction of the psychology not just of the victim of a cult, but of any of us who might be enmeshed in a group of true believers, even if not as bizarre & lethal as the People’s Temple, the Branch Davidians, or Heaven’s Gate. As the 13 year-old Judith, the only sceptic @ The Ark, finds, ‘it was harder to hold on to all your normal thoughts when everyone around you believed something different.’ I thought her mother Stephanie was a very believable portrait of an ideal recruit, an abandoned single mum with a poor self-image, an uncertain & unfulfilling job, & no intellectual or spiritual formation.
I’d found Rebecca Wait’s previous book The View on the Way Down a moving but slowly developing study in what happens to ordinary people dealing with unrequited grief. Here too the story takes its time to unfold & till to nearly 1/2 way I wasn’t sure I’d made a good choice. But then I was grabbed & had to stay in all day to find out how it would finish. We know from the beginning that Stephanie will commit a murder, but who will she kill & why? The book moves back & forth between the present, when Stephanie is in prison, & the past when she was a member of the cult & known as Sarah. The present 22 y/o Judith also offers a fascinating counterpoint to her earlier brash confident teenage self. I also loved the brave Jess, alias Esther.
Some reviewers had trouble believing that this story could happen in real life in contemporary Britain. Personally, I doubt practical details matter all that much. Rebecca Wait is a guide to the inner selves of her characters & knows that however unpretentious & drab they may appear on the surface, they can haunt us. I shall continue to ponder how a book that ought to make for a depressing read left me feeling so happy that I had read it.
I’d found Rebecca Wait’s previous book The View on the Way Down a moving but slowly developing study in what happens to ordinary people dealing with unrequited grief. Here too the story takes its time to unfold & till to nearly 1/2 way I wasn’t sure I’d made a good choice. But then I was grabbed & had to stay in all day to find out how it would finish. We know from the beginning that Stephanie will commit a murder, but who will she kill & why? The book moves back & forth between the present, when Stephanie is in prison, & the past when she was a member of the cult & known as Sarah. The present 22 y/o Judith also offers a fascinating counterpoint to her earlier brash confident teenage self. I also loved the brave Jess, alias Esther.
Some reviewers had trouble believing that this story could happen in real life in contemporary Britain. Personally, I doubt practical details matter all that much. Rebecca Wait is a guide to the inner selves of her characters & knows that however unpretentious & drab they may appear on the surface, they can haunt us. I shall continue to ponder how a book that ought to make for a depressing read left me feeling so happy that I had read it.
June 19, 2023
About a third of the way through I thought I might want to abandon this as I wasn’t enjoying it but I’m so glad I persevered.
The book is about a cult called The Ark of God and I can certainly see the relevance of the name . Hurrah for the 12 year old Judith who wasn’t brainwashed by Nathaniel, and also for .
What a good author!
The book is about a cult called The Ark of God and I can certainly see the relevance of the name . Hurrah for the 12 year old Judith who wasn’t brainwashed by Nathaniel, and also for .
What a good author!
July 21, 2015
As soon as I heard about The Followers, I was desperate to read it. Religious cults are a fascinating topic and I'm a big fan of the TV series The Following.
When struggling single mum Stephanie meets Nathaniel, she is sucked deep into his world, along with her 12-year-old daughter Judith. Moving into his small village in the Yorkshire moorlands, little did any of them know that life will never be the same again.
The Followers grabbed my attention from the first page, as 22-year-old Judith visits her mother in prison, one of many similar visits over the years. As the story then flips to the past (10 years ago), it slowly unravels the events leading up to the present day.
The Followers made me gasp, cry and hold my breath several times. I loved all of the characters, as they felt so authentic and passionate about what they believed in, with a vulnerability that made them all easy to control. I couldn't help but feel great empathy for Judith, whose world was turned upside down by her mother's irresponsible and rash decision to move in with a man she hardly knew.
I read the book in two short sittings, ignoring the household and unable to stop reading until I reached the final page. It's a sad, creepy, and horrifying story, in a chilling atmospheric setting - so well plotted that it flows seamlessly from beginning to end. The narrative gave me little time to breathe, as I swiftly turned the pages to see what would happen next.
The Followers is a brilliant book and left me thinking about the story and characters for a long time afterwards.
I won a copy of the book in a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
When struggling single mum Stephanie meets Nathaniel, she is sucked deep into his world, along with her 12-year-old daughter Judith. Moving into his small village in the Yorkshire moorlands, little did any of them know that life will never be the same again.
The Followers grabbed my attention from the first page, as 22-year-old Judith visits her mother in prison, one of many similar visits over the years. As the story then flips to the past (10 years ago), it slowly unravels the events leading up to the present day.
The Followers made me gasp, cry and hold my breath several times. I loved all of the characters, as they felt so authentic and passionate about what they believed in, with a vulnerability that made them all easy to control. I couldn't help but feel great empathy for Judith, whose world was turned upside down by her mother's irresponsible and rash decision to move in with a man she hardly knew.
I read the book in two short sittings, ignoring the household and unable to stop reading until I reached the final page. It's a sad, creepy, and horrifying story, in a chilling atmospheric setting - so well plotted that it flows seamlessly from beginning to end. The narrative gave me little time to breathe, as I swiftly turned the pages to see what would happen next.
The Followers is a brilliant book and left me thinking about the story and characters for a long time afterwards.
I won a copy of the book in a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
May 3, 2023
A BOOK ABOUT CULTS! This book made me think about hitting rock bottom, about what it means to be fully exposed and vulnerable, and about the human nature to NEED/make meaning and find belonging in life.
I think cults are commonly a point of fascination & entertainment because of their fantastical, mind-boggling, completely unfathomable grip on the people they entrap. When I watch documentaries about people in cults, I’m entertained by how idiotic and naive the cult members are. But when I read this book, I felt much more than just baffled by idiocy — I felt empathy and understanding for the followers of Nathaniel. Most of the characters were raw, real, and with honest tribulations that helped me understand their place in life.
This book is also masterfully well-rounded because it not only focused on the down-bad followers but also the people who found ways to disbelieve, resist, or escape the indoctrination: “With skillful judgment, Wait shows us that not everyone can be trained or scared into submission.” I like how nuanced these characters become.
The switch between “before” and “after” periods was done tactfully and added a layer of depth to the story of Judith and her mother that destroyed me. And I actually liked how the POV was mainly from children.
Different type of book and I liked it.
I think cults are commonly a point of fascination & entertainment because of their fantastical, mind-boggling, completely unfathomable grip on the people they entrap. When I watch documentaries about people in cults, I’m entertained by how idiotic and naive the cult members are. But when I read this book, I felt much more than just baffled by idiocy — I felt empathy and understanding for the followers of Nathaniel. Most of the characters were raw, real, and with honest tribulations that helped me understand their place in life.
This book is also masterfully well-rounded because it not only focused on the down-bad followers but also the people who found ways to disbelieve, resist, or escape the indoctrination: “With skillful judgment, Wait shows us that not everyone can be trained or scared into submission.” I like how nuanced these characters become.
The switch between “before” and “after” periods was done tactfully and added a layer of depth to the story of Judith and her mother that destroyed me. And I actually liked how the POV was mainly from children.
Different type of book and I liked it.
August 3, 2017
The Followers (Rebecca Wait)
Imagine Stephanie, a bored mother, limited by lack of education and responsibility towards her twelve year old daughter, Judith. Further Stephanie is burdened with a poor relationship with her mother and a lack of friends in the new town in which she now lives.
Stephanie makes her a living as waitress, yet is unfulfilled, bound by routine and poor finances.
Enter into her life a charismatic man, Nathaniel. Stephanie falls for his compliments, enjoys his company, has a fulfilling sexual relationship with him and is convinced she is giving her daughter a new lease on life when she decides to join him in his solitary community on the windswept moores.
Judith however, disliked Nathaniel from the start. Now she is immediately suspicious of the Ark's activities. She relentlessly questions twelve year old Moses who is fascinated by the first person he meets from Gehanna (the outside world) where the devil's influence is supposed to be rife. His childish explanations of the Ark's activities introduce the reader to the extreme ways of cult life. Truly frightening.
Needlessly to say, a sacrifice is made which horrifies a loyal cult member to such an extent that she secretly escapes. Eventually the police move in and dismantle the Ark. Stephanie is jailed and Judith religiously (excuse the pun) visits her mother in jail. Thus Judith's odd life is disrupted even more. Towards the end of the book, a small ray of light appears when she eventually is reunited with Moses who was her constant companion in the Ark.
The reader is left knowing that a person without social support, qualifications/skills or finances, is a sitting duck for flattery, manipulation, even prone to religious fanaticism.
Rebecca Wait depicts each stage of a follower's downfall with much skill. One even has sympathy for the naïve Stephanie, cheers the rebellious Judith on, detests the manipulative Nathan and admires the awakening of Moses to a new reality.
The Followers is a good read (which could earn Ms Wait four stars) on an awful topic (which I rate three stars).
Imagine Stephanie, a bored mother, limited by lack of education and responsibility towards her twelve year old daughter, Judith. Further Stephanie is burdened with a poor relationship with her mother and a lack of friends in the new town in which she now lives.
Stephanie makes her a living as waitress, yet is unfulfilled, bound by routine and poor finances.
Enter into her life a charismatic man, Nathaniel. Stephanie falls for his compliments, enjoys his company, has a fulfilling sexual relationship with him and is convinced she is giving her daughter a new lease on life when she decides to join him in his solitary community on the windswept moores.
Judith however, disliked Nathaniel from the start. Now she is immediately suspicious of the Ark's activities. She relentlessly questions twelve year old Moses who is fascinated by the first person he meets from Gehanna (the outside world) where the devil's influence is supposed to be rife. His childish explanations of the Ark's activities introduce the reader to the extreme ways of cult life. Truly frightening.
Needlessly to say, a sacrifice is made which horrifies a loyal cult member to such an extent that she secretly escapes. Eventually the police move in and dismantle the Ark. Stephanie is jailed and Judith religiously (excuse the pun) visits her mother in jail. Thus Judith's odd life is disrupted even more. Towards the end of the book, a small ray of light appears when she eventually is reunited with Moses who was her constant companion in the Ark.
The reader is left knowing that a person without social support, qualifications/skills or finances, is a sitting duck for flattery, manipulation, even prone to religious fanaticism.
Rebecca Wait depicts each stage of a follower's downfall with much skill. One even has sympathy for the naïve Stephanie, cheers the rebellious Judith on, detests the manipulative Nathan and admires the awakening of Moses to a new reality.
The Followers is a good read (which could earn Ms Wait four stars) on an awful topic (which I rate three stars).
September 16, 2025
3 stars--I liked the book.
This is a quick read about a destructive cult--too quick of a read, I thought. I liked the characters but I wanted more depth; this seemed like skimming the characters and plot.
This is a quick read about a destructive cult--too quick of a read, I thought. I liked the characters but I wanted more depth; this seemed like skimming the characters and plot.
September 15, 2017
Wasn't blown away by the story but very much appreciated the sensitivity and authenticity the author brought to what could have been an unoriginal story of cult followers and their leader.
June 17, 2016
Rebecca Wait is certainly not afraid to tackle a difficult fiction topic about love and faith.
November 15, 2017
Boy oh boy do I love a good cult story. Much like true crime and serial killers, the dark psychology behind cults and the control they exert upon their members has always interested me. So when I heard about THE FOLLOWERS by Rebecca Wait thanks to a New York Times book article, I knew that I wanted to read it. It took a bit, but it finally came up for me on request at the library. I sat down this past weekend intending to start it, and then I ended up reading the whole darn thing in an afternoon. Yes, it is that engrossing. But along with the thrills and tension, there was another story within it's pages about family, friendship, and trauma.
When Stephanie meets Nathanial at the coffee shop she works at, she thinks that she's the luckiest woman in the world. A single mother with low self esteem, Stephanie has never thought that she'd find someone who appreciates all sides of her. So when Nathanial starts wooing her, she thinks that her dreams have come true. Nathanial convinces her to pack up her life and her teenage daughter Judith and go live in the English moors with him and his commune, where he is a prophet and soldier for God. While Stephanie falls deeper and deeper under his spell, Judith becomes more and more rebellious and concerned. The tip in the balance at the commune starts a chain reaction that leads to violence and tragedy.
Like I said, this book totally sucked me in and did not let me go until I was finished with it. But it wasn't really because of the cult aspect. Well, a large part of it was, but I also really got attached to the characters in this book. It flips between the time that Stephanie and Judith were part of the group, to the life afterwards, where Judith is an adult and trying to cope with her trauma and her now imprisoned mother (for what, we have to read to find out). Both Judith and Stephanie are written in such ways that they are completely believable in their actions, and sympathetic even when they are making terrible decisions. I had a hard time with Stephanie, a woman who basically sacrifices her daughter's and her well being because a manipulative sociopath convinced her too, but at the same time I totally understand how she could do such a thing. I also liked that Judith has long lasting effects of her time in the cult, and that she isn't perfect or left unscathed. But my favorite character of all was one that I wasn't expecting, and that is Moses, the boy that Judith befriends while in the commune. He was raised in this group, and is a full on believer, but he is not immune to the abuse that Nathanial heaps upon his followers. Moses and Judith are on complete opposite sides of the spectrum, but they both learn from each other, and forge a friendship that is lovely and bittersweet. Seeing the various levels of belief in Nathanial within Moses (true believer), Stephanie (new believer), and Judith (non believer) lets us see how faith can affect different people. It's a slow burn to tragedy, and while you know that something terrible is going to happen, you are still kind of caught off guard by how terrible it is (no spoilers here!). I quite enjoyed how Wait built up to it and gave us insights into the human condition and the complexities of family while she did so.
THE FOLLOWERS is a dark and yet somewhat hopeful book, and I can't recommend it enough to those who are interested in the subject of cults. You will sate your interest in it, but also get a well written literary tale as well.
When Stephanie meets Nathanial at the coffee shop she works at, she thinks that she's the luckiest woman in the world. A single mother with low self esteem, Stephanie has never thought that she'd find someone who appreciates all sides of her. So when Nathanial starts wooing her, she thinks that her dreams have come true. Nathanial convinces her to pack up her life and her teenage daughter Judith and go live in the English moors with him and his commune, where he is a prophet and soldier for God. While Stephanie falls deeper and deeper under his spell, Judith becomes more and more rebellious and concerned. The tip in the balance at the commune starts a chain reaction that leads to violence and tragedy.
Like I said, this book totally sucked me in and did not let me go until I was finished with it. But it wasn't really because of the cult aspect. Well, a large part of it was, but I also really got attached to the characters in this book. It flips between the time that Stephanie and Judith were part of the group, to the life afterwards, where Judith is an adult and trying to cope with her trauma and her now imprisoned mother (for what, we have to read to find out). Both Judith and Stephanie are written in such ways that they are completely believable in their actions, and sympathetic even when they are making terrible decisions. I had a hard time with Stephanie, a woman who basically sacrifices her daughter's and her well being because a manipulative sociopath convinced her too, but at the same time I totally understand how she could do such a thing. I also liked that Judith has long lasting effects of her time in the cult, and that she isn't perfect or left unscathed. But my favorite character of all was one that I wasn't expecting, and that is Moses, the boy that Judith befriends while in the commune. He was raised in this group, and is a full on believer, but he is not immune to the abuse that Nathanial heaps upon his followers. Moses and Judith are on complete opposite sides of the spectrum, but they both learn from each other, and forge a friendship that is lovely and bittersweet. Seeing the various levels of belief in Nathanial within Moses (true believer), Stephanie (new believer), and Judith (non believer) lets us see how faith can affect different people. It's a slow burn to tragedy, and while you know that something terrible is going to happen, you are still kind of caught off guard by how terrible it is (no spoilers here!). I quite enjoyed how Wait built up to it and gave us insights into the human condition and the complexities of family while she did so.
THE FOLLOWERS is a dark and yet somewhat hopeful book, and I can't recommend it enough to those who are interested in the subject of cults. You will sate your interest in it, but also get a well written literary tale as well.
June 13, 2023
This is the fictional story of a small religious cult in 21st century Yorkshire England. It is a small cult started by one central figure. Nathaniel aka The Prophet, who has proceeded to recruit members. It is a small cult with single digits figures of adults and approximately the same number of kids involved. The smaller size of the cult made it easier for the reader to get to know the characters.
The story is really the tale of the personal journey of the newest cult members, young single woman Stephanie and her pre-teen daughter Judith. While the story is told primarily from Judith’s point of view, there are sections where the story switches to others’ perspectives. The story starts with Nathaniel’s recruitment of Stephanie, who is a waitress at a coffeehouse in this small Yorkshire village that Nathaniel frequents weekly. Nathaniel’s cult inhabits a house in the countryside separated from the village by the moors. This is the setting for the main portion of the story’s events.
The story grabbed me from the beginning. Author Wait has written dialogue so gripping that it propels the story along in almost thriller fashion while also sounding so real and written so clearly as to provide the reader a pretty good idea of how a successful cult recruitment, indoctrination and retention could occur.
The buildup to the inevitable climax was enthralling reading. The post climactic denouement was natural, well-written and ultimately heart-rendering if, by its mature, a bit anticlimactic.
I felt in tune with the author’s dialogue, plotting and pacing early on and found myself accepting of wherever and however she chose to take the story. I thought it was extremely well done.
My interest was heightened by the story being about a British rather than an American religious cult. The setting made the story of a religious cult seem more fresh to me than if it were a tale about a Jim Jones or David Koresh style led American religious cult.
While I could see how this would not work for everyone, it did for me. I rate this book, a 21st Century British novel with less than 900 Goodreads ratings that I had never heard of until just prior to reading it, as 5 stars.
The story is really the tale of the personal journey of the newest cult members, young single woman Stephanie and her pre-teen daughter Judith. While the story is told primarily from Judith’s point of view, there are sections where the story switches to others’ perspectives. The story starts with Nathaniel’s recruitment of Stephanie, who is a waitress at a coffeehouse in this small Yorkshire village that Nathaniel frequents weekly. Nathaniel’s cult inhabits a house in the countryside separated from the village by the moors. This is the setting for the main portion of the story’s events.
The story grabbed me from the beginning. Author Wait has written dialogue so gripping that it propels the story along in almost thriller fashion while also sounding so real and written so clearly as to provide the reader a pretty good idea of how a successful cult recruitment, indoctrination and retention could occur.
The buildup to the inevitable climax was enthralling reading. The post climactic denouement was natural, well-written and ultimately heart-rendering if, by its mature, a bit anticlimactic.
I felt in tune with the author’s dialogue, plotting and pacing early on and found myself accepting of wherever and however she chose to take the story. I thought it was extremely well done.
My interest was heightened by the story being about a British rather than an American religious cult. The setting made the story of a religious cult seem more fresh to me than if it were a tale about a Jim Jones or David Koresh style led American religious cult.
While I could see how this would not work for everyone, it did for me. I rate this book, a 21st Century British novel with less than 900 Goodreads ratings that I had never heard of until just prior to reading it, as 5 stars.
December 26, 2022
4⭐️really appreciated the cliff hangers (almost every chapter) as well the well developed plot.
I wish there was some more depth and backstory to some of the main characters (particularly Nathanial) but that’s a small note.
All in all a good quick read with some suspense.
I wish there was some more depth and backstory to some of the main characters (particularly Nathanial) but that’s a small note.
All in all a good quick read with some suspense.
February 2, 2018
I absolutely loved this novel.
October 22, 2018
A slow start but I ended up enjoying this immensely and I’m looking forward to a great reading group discussion about it.
742
742
September 22, 2017
Review to come at memphisflyer.com
December 3, 2023
This was SO good!!! The pacing was great and the writing was lovely and pretty easy to read. The only thing that bothered me was the nonlinear Storytelling and I just wish that it had been longer. I think a hundred more pages would have been perfect!
Also I love Moses so much 😭😭😭
Also I love Moses so much 😭😭😭
October 22, 2017
3.5 perhaps...a bit predictable and anti-climactic.
July 6, 2020
Dammmmn! This book knocked my socks off.
November 19, 2024
Interesting view from the inside of a religious sect.
A vulnerable single mum finds herself seduced by a simple religious life, but all is not as it seems, and soon The Prophet dictates everything in the lives. Later on, a woman visits her mother in prison, before returning to her grandmother’s house where she lives.
This gradual weaving of stories examines the psychology behind those swept up by cults, those who run them, and those who get away from them, blending in the often tricky relationship between mothers and daughters, and the finding of friends in unusual places.
A vulnerable single mum finds herself seduced by a simple religious life, but all is not as it seems, and soon The Prophet dictates everything in the lives. Later on, a woman visits her mother in prison, before returning to her grandmother’s house where she lives.
This gradual weaving of stories examines the psychology behind those swept up by cults, those who run them, and those who get away from them, blending in the often tricky relationship between mothers and daughters, and the finding of friends in unusual places.
May 3, 2015
A compelling and absorbing tale of a woman's slow absorption into an isolated religious cult and her daughter's lonely, internal, un-realised rebellion against her mother, the cult, and its charismatic, egoistic leader, the sinister Nathaniel.
The story begins with twenty-two year old Judith's prison visits to her all-too normal mother. They discuss the films they have seen, birthdays, domestic details. They never talk about why Judith's mum is in prison, about The Ark and the rapid descent into madness, bloodshed and violence. When her mum says 'see you next month', Judith replies 'of course'. She has been coming for eight years. She might fantasise about never coming again, leaving the past behind - and the alcohol, and the numbing drugs - and making a new life for herself, but somehow never seems able to take that step.
The narrative then takes us back in time. Judith is about thirteen, her single-mother Stephanie is working in a cafe when she first meets Nathaniel. Nathaniel seems to be the object of every woman's fancy, though Judith can never quite see his allure, how he maintains his hold on others. She never feels the dark charisma that has persuaded a group of intelligent adults to throw up their lives and give everything - including their bodies and wombs in the case of the females - to Nathaniel. There are children too, all born in the cult, none have ever left The Ark's three wind-battered buildings on the moors. Some of these children are Nathaniel's and now Nathaniel wants more.
Judith hates The Ark. All she wants to do is leave. Her only friend there is Moses, a boy spurned by the other children because his face is stained with a birthmark: the mark of the devil.
The cult itself is something of a mystery and probably the weakest part of the tale. How does one man exert such glamour he is able to rule a band of intelligent adults so effectively and completely? Nathaniel is a little like Jim Jones, David Koresh, Charles Manson - men who exert absolute control through force of personality. It's a difficult concept, hard to understand for anyone who has not experienced it (and so few who have ever live to tell their tale). It's very hard to convey in a novel - I don't think I've ever seen it done entirely convincingly, but this almost works. I almost believed in Nathaniel.
Written in a sparse, dry, gripping style, Rebecca Wait's story burns slowly but is never less than utterly compelling as it reaches its appalling conclusion and fallout - which surprised me; I thought I had it figured out and I was wrong. Start to finish, I was riveted.
The story begins with twenty-two year old Judith's prison visits to her all-too normal mother. They discuss the films they have seen, birthdays, domestic details. They never talk about why Judith's mum is in prison, about The Ark and the rapid descent into madness, bloodshed and violence. When her mum says 'see you next month', Judith replies 'of course'. She has been coming for eight years. She might fantasise about never coming again, leaving the past behind - and the alcohol, and the numbing drugs - and making a new life for herself, but somehow never seems able to take that step.
The narrative then takes us back in time. Judith is about thirteen, her single-mother Stephanie is working in a cafe when she first meets Nathaniel. Nathaniel seems to be the object of every woman's fancy, though Judith can never quite see his allure, how he maintains his hold on others. She never feels the dark charisma that has persuaded a group of intelligent adults to throw up their lives and give everything - including their bodies and wombs in the case of the females - to Nathaniel. There are children too, all born in the cult, none have ever left The Ark's three wind-battered buildings on the moors. Some of these children are Nathaniel's and now Nathaniel wants more.
Judith hates The Ark. All she wants to do is leave. Her only friend there is Moses, a boy spurned by the other children because his face is stained with a birthmark: the mark of the devil.
The cult itself is something of a mystery and probably the weakest part of the tale. How does one man exert such glamour he is able to rule a band of intelligent adults so effectively and completely? Nathaniel is a little like Jim Jones, David Koresh, Charles Manson - men who exert absolute control through force of personality. It's a difficult concept, hard to understand for anyone who has not experienced it (and so few who have ever live to tell their tale). It's very hard to convey in a novel - I don't think I've ever seen it done entirely convincingly, but this almost works. I almost believed in Nathaniel.
Written in a sparse, dry, gripping style, Rebecca Wait's story burns slowly but is never less than utterly compelling as it reaches its appalling conclusion and fallout - which surprised me; I thought I had it figured out and I was wrong. Start to finish, I was riveted.
August 8, 2016
Holy crap. This book was amazing and I am so glad that I ordered it from The Book Depository. For some reason I couldn't find it in Canada. Anyway, you are taken into this mediocre world where life is static and struggling to be static at that. The main character Stephanie seems not to be living for anything or anyone (including her daughter Judith). That's when we're introduced to Nathaniel, the prophet and the leader of the Ark. I definitely don't want to spoil the plot, but what I found so fascinating was how believable Nathaniel's personality was. He was tender, calming and reassuring and these character traits are what allow him to be so trusted by 'the followers' in the Ark.
I thought this book was haunting. I was definitely creeped out the entire week that I was reading this book, and it really allowed me to reflect on some of my personal ideas of faith and fellowship. I really enjoyed both voices of Judith negatively reacting to the expectation to follow blindly. This voice opposed to to Stephanie (Sarah's) deep comfort in having someone to make the decisions for her. I found it really haunting when free will, fear and herd mentality started to intertwine.
Some things that fell flat were the landscape and location. I enjoyed the description of the landscape, but I thought the book could have been more effective if it was left without a specific geographical location. I kept imagining the setting being in the midwest or even the south of the United States and then I'd randomly be shifted back to the UK. Since the city and specific geographic locations are not mentioned often, I would have preferred if they were omitted all together. Also, I felt like the construction of the book was interesting, but also a bit confusing. There were "before" and "after" narratives that I quite enjoyed, but then there were also divides almost like acts of a play, and I felt both of that organization to be overkill.
If this was a movie I would cast : Joaquin Phoenix as Nathaniel, Amy Adams as Stephanie and Jennifer Goodwin as Esther.
I thought this book was haunting. I was definitely creeped out the entire week that I was reading this book, and it really allowed me to reflect on some of my personal ideas of faith and fellowship. I really enjoyed both voices of Judith negatively reacting to the expectation to follow blindly. This voice opposed to to Stephanie (Sarah's) deep comfort in having someone to make the decisions for her. I found it really haunting when free will, fear and herd mentality started to intertwine.
Some things that fell flat were the landscape and location. I enjoyed the description of the landscape, but I thought the book could have been more effective if it was left without a specific geographical location. I kept imagining the setting being in the midwest or even the south of the United States and then I'd randomly be shifted back to the UK. Since the city and specific geographic locations are not mentioned often, I would have preferred if they were omitted all together. Also, I felt like the construction of the book was interesting, but also a bit confusing. There were "before" and "after" narratives that I quite enjoyed, but then there were also divides almost like acts of a play, and I felt both of that organization to be overkill.
If this was a movie I would cast : Joaquin Phoenix as Nathaniel, Amy Adams as Stephanie and Jennifer Goodwin as Esther.
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