The Followers - by Rebecca Wait (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"A profoundly unsettling, brilliantly executed, and deeply humane depiction of a slow slide toward an unspeakable act . . . A remarkable novel" (Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven).

Judith has been visiting her mother, Stephanie, in prison once a month for the last eight years. She still can't bring herself to talk with her mother about what brought them here--or about Nathaniel, the man whose religious cult almost cost them their lives.
When Stephanie first meets him, she is a struggling single mother and Nathaniel is a charismatic outsider, unlike anyone she's ever known. In deciding to join the group he's founded, Stephanie thinks she's doing the best thing for her daughter: a new home, a new purpose. Judith and Stephanie are initiated into a secret society whose "followers" must obey the will of a zealous prophet. As Stephanie immerses herself in her new life, Judith slowly realizes the moral implications of the strict lifestyle Nathaniel preaches. Tensions deepen, faith and doubt collide, and a horrifying act of violence changes everything. In the shattering aftermath, it seems that no one is safe.
With "propulsive plotting" (The Guardian), The Followers is a novel about love, hope, and identity that asks: are we still responsible for our actions if we remake ourselves in someone else's image? And can there be a way back?

"With skillful judgment, Wait shows us that not everyone can be trained or scared into submission. The tenderness and the transformative nature of the ending are truly moving."--The Independent

"Brooding tension . . . building to a page-turning finish."--Daily Mail

Review Quotes

"A profoundly unsettling, brilliantly executed, and deeply humane depiction of a slow slide toward an unspeakable act, and the difficulty and necessity of finding a way to live in the aftermath. The Followers is a remarkable novel."
--Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven

"Wait's propulsive plotting and the complicity she creates through the power of her writing form a great surging shout of a novel."
--The Guardian

"With skillful judgment, Wait shows us that not everyone can be trained or scared into submission. The tenderness and the transformative nature of the ending are truly moving."
--The Independent

"The novel has a brooding tension that threatens no good to come, building to a
page-turning finish."
--John Harding, Daily Mail

..".readers will be drawn in by Wait's unfolding of events."
--Booklist

"Rebecca Wait describes the world of The Followers with such vividness that I dreamt about her cold, misty moorland, and with such tenderness that the ending brought tears to my eyes."
--Alison Moore, Man Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Lighthouse


Praise for The Followers
"A profoundly unsettling, brilliantly executed, and deeply humane depiction of a slow slide toward an unspeakable act, and the difficulty and necessity of finding a way to live in the aftermath. The Followers is a remarkable novel."
--Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven
"Wait's propulsive plotting and the complicity she creates through the power of her writing form a great surging shout of a novel."
--The Guardian
"With skillful judgment, Wait shows us that not everyone can be trained or scared into submission. The tenderness and the transformative nature of the ending are truly moving."
--The Independent
"The novel has a brooding tension that threatens no good to come, building to a
page-turning finish."
--John Harding, Daily Mail
"Rebecca Wait describes the world of The Followers with such vividness that I dreamt about her cold, misty moorland, and with such tenderness that the ending brought tears to my eyes."
--Alison Moore, Man Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Lighthouse

About the Author