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Abode of Love: Growing Up in a Messianic Cult @ Booksfree.com |
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 | | Abode of Love: Growing Up in a Messianic Cult
| | by Kate Barlow Format: Paperback
Published: September 2006
Category: Women
Publisher: Goose Lane Editions
Pages: 240 | | |  | | Learn More | | | | Description | | | When Kate Barlow was a little girl, she moved with her mother and her older sisters to a ramshackle English mansion. They were not alone on the once-grand estate, surrounded as they were by twenty eccentric, elderly women, one of whom was her grandmother . . . or was she? This remarkable memoir is the true story of life inside 'The A,' the infamous Agapemone,* named for the Greek word meaning Abode of Love. It was a religious cult founded in mid-19th century England by a defrocked clergyman who claimed to be guided personally by the Holy Ghost. Agapemonites, many of whom were wealthy, unmarried women, lived together on the estate. They believed the Second Coming was imminent and that their founder would live forever. When Henry James Prince died unexpectedly, his successor declared himself the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, an announcement which caused rioting in the streets. The book reveals the author's gradual awakening to the religious and sexual scandal that enveloped her family, as first the founder and then his heir -- Kate's grandfather -- continued the practice of taking so-called 'spiritual' brides. In fact, these relationships were physical as well as spiritual, and some produced illegitimate children, Kate's mother being one of them. Although much of this family history was hidden from Kate at first, she knew something was not right. 'We all knew our home was `different' -- the world behind those stone walls never let us forget it -- but just how different and the reasons why would take many years to unearth.' Life inside Agapemone was much like living inside a giant puzzle. It took years for Kate to assemble all of the pieces. When the final piece snapped into place, and she discovered the truth of her heritage, closure remained elusive. Today, she and her sisters are still connected to her grandfather's cult as owners of the Arc of the Covenant, an exquisitely beautiful Victorian church built by the sect in north London. This first inside account of the infamous cult is also a story about family, and its lingering legacy on several generations, including Kate Barlow's own mother. It is a gripping, sometimes humourous, deeply human tale. |
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