IN THE DAYS OF RAIN is a rather level-headed, nondramatic look into a cult that is as alarming as any other. It was written in a way that was not meant to be shocking, which allows readers to work out their own judgments, and I assure you there is a lot to reckon. In all, author Rebecca Stott overcomes a restricted childhood in a fundamentalist sect to write a book that is entirely down-to-earth, clever and exceedingly creative. She is now a bestselling author and professor of creative writing and English literature at the University of East Anglia.

Stott had a close yet strained relationship with her father, a Brethren minister who was a man of excessive contradictions. Growing up, she was told that her cult was the work of God and that Satan ruled the outside world. Yet her father was different from most in the Exclusive Brethren: he had a radio hidden in the trunk of his car and secretly read Shakespeare, among other intellectual curiosities. Though he was a part of an extremist sect, his creative bent allowed a sliver of hope into his daughter’s life, as she was able to sustain an existence that included some of her own thoughts and dreams amid the beyond bankrupt Brethren environment.

"IN THE DAYS OF RAIN is a rather level-headed, nondramatic look into a cult that is as alarming as any other. It was written in a way that was not meant to be shocking, which allows readers to work out their own judgments..."

This shows through today in her work, as IN THE DAYS OF RAIN is interspersed with fun, inventive prose, including references to Ingmar Bergman films, the poetry of Yeats and Joyce’s ULYSSES. A life that was meant to be kept in darkness has flourished, and the beautiful writing personally moved me. I mean it when I say that there is something special in what I can describe only as good writing. The story itself between Stott and her father may start off slowly, but the creative spark is apparent from the beginning and never leaves.

The Exclusive Brethren operated as a closed community and a real-life cult. Not being able to speak for oneself, confinements, threats, manipulation and even suicides are signs of many cults --- not only a part of the one that Stott lived through and candidly describes. Where the cult can be ruthless, Stott is straightforward and true. She does not sensationalize their practices, so while the content may be shocking to some, the way it is recounted represents the opposite of gossip. I appreciate how the book is at once serious and inventively structured and storied.

IN THE DAYS OF RAIN provides appropriate content for the times in which we live. It serves as a warning against moving further into insular groups, or hearing a single side to every story. Rebecca Stott was able to escape into the world of freethinking because of the small doses of worldliness she made a part of her, and now she imparts her insight on us all by thankfully sharing her journey.