The Followers by Rebecca Wait - book review: Slow burner, but a cult hit

The Followers by Rebecca Wait

Judith has been visiting her mother in prison for eight years, but they’re still unable to talk about the events that landed her there. Luckily, they don’t have to; The Followers alternates “after” scenes from Judith’s adult life with “before” sections from her childhood.

We witness Stephanie join an isolated religious commune after becoming enthralled with its charismatic leader, Nathaniel. Stephanie rapidly sheds the complications of independence for a life of simplicity and submission and moves with Judith to a farmhouse.

But Judith hates this life and tensions within the small group grow culminating in an act of violence that sends Stephanie to prison and ensures Judith’s escape.

Wait’s confident plotting leads the reader towards a climax as satisfying as it is inevitable. Yet The Followers is less interested in the charisma of the cult leader than in why some follow and some resist. As a result, Nathaniel’s Bible-based speeches and tantrums are sometimes clichéd and cartoonish and the willingness with which Stephanie transforms herself into his concubine doesn’t convince.

Young Judith is the heart of the book and the brisk energy of her voice is beguiling. So are her cheek and impulsiveness: her prickliness provides the book’s hope and much of its humour. Wait shows us that not everyone can be trained or scared into submission, yet there are moments of gut-churning horror when Judith’s stubbornness and Nathaniel’s increasingly desperate need to control clash.

The contrast with the damaged and grieving Judith in the present provides an intricate point of comparison and maintains tension until the last paragraph. Now, Judith drinks too much, is unable to hold down a job or trust anyone enough to maintain a relationship. Back then; a rebellious, streetwise kid who acted as a protector to children. The reader desperately wants Judith to be all right, even when the present-day narrative shows us that she isn’t.

With skilful judgement, Wait doesn’t end the story there. Judith was once the girl who needed to be strong and rescue others. Now she is in need of the friendship she was once able to give so freely. The tenderness and the transformative nature of the ending – one which acknowledges the danger of wanting to belong – are truly moving.

‘The Friday Gospels’, by Jenn Ashworth, is published by Sceptre

Picador £12.99