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Als Rebecca Stotts Vater im Sterben liegt, bittet er seine Tochter darum, ihm beim Verfassen seiner Erinnerungen zu helfen: schon seit Jahren kämpft er damit, die Geschichte seiner Familie festzuhalten, die seit Generationen Mitglied einer fundamentalistischen christlichen Sekte ist. Doch zu schmerzhaft sind die Erinnerungen. In diesem beeindruckenden Memoir versucht die Autorin zu ergründen, warum intelligente leidenschaftliche Menschen in den Sog einer fundamentalistischen Religion geraten können, und welche schwerwiegenden Folgen dies hat. Ihre eigene Kindheit im Brighton der 60er und 70er Jahre war geprägt durch das eiserne Korsett der Regeln ihrer Gemeinde und so weit entfernt vom liberalen Geist dieser Zeit, wie nur irgend möglich. Stotts Familie ist es dennoch gelungen, mit der Sekte zu brechen.
About the author
Rebecca Stott, Jahrgang 1964, arbeitet in Cambridge als Professorin für Englische Literatur an der Anglia Ruskin University und als Scholar am History and Philosophy of Science Department. Sie hat eine Vielzahl wissenschaftlicher Arbeiten und populärer Sachbücher verfasst, außerdem erstellt sie regelmäßig Beiträge für das Hörfunkprogramm der BBC.
Summary
WINNER OF THE 2017 COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD In the vein of Bad Blood and Why be Happy when you can be Normal?: an enthralling, at times shocking, and deeply personal family memoir of growing up in, and breaking away from, a fundamentalist Christian cult.
Report
'Beautiful, dizzying, terrifying, Stott's memoir maps the unnerving hinterland where faith becomes cruelty and devotion turns into disaster. A brave, frightening and strangely hopeful book' Olivia Laing, author of The Lonely City
'A marvellous, strange, terrifying book' Francis Spufford, author of Golden Hill
'Truly magnificent: a big, beautiful, brutal, and tender masterpiece. A deeply affecting human story that also goes to the dark heart of who we are and how the world works' Mark Mills, author of The Savage Garden
'Stott is masterly as both a storyteller and a historian' TLS
'By rights Rebecca Stott's memoir ought to be a horror story. But while the historian in her is merciless in exposing cruelties and corruption, Rebecca the child also lights up the book, so passionate and imaginative that it helps explain how she survived, and - even more miraculous - found the compassion and understanding to do justice to the story of her father and the painful family life he created' Sarah Dunant, author of The Birth of Venus
'She's a beautiful writer and there is a powerful almost luminous quality to the book' Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of Love
'This book is important; ... there isn't an uninteresting paragraph in this furious and compassionate book' The Times
'An intense accomplishment' Sunday Times
'In the Days of Rain is a double memoir: it describes both Rebecca's own childhood and her father Roger's life. It is not, though, in any way a misery memoir and that's what makes it such an attractive and interesting book' Spectator
'Stott deploys her multiplicity of skills to good effect: as a historian, she delves into newspaper clippings, tape recordings, archive materials, a host of memoirs and books on doctrine, theology and the Exclusive Brethren. As a novelist, she makes the tale dramatic ... As an essayist, Stott weaves ideas together with ease and economy' Guardian
