A big thank you to Rebecca Stott, Spiegel and Grau, and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Rebecca's family belonged to a fundamentalist Brethren cult in England. She was fourth generation. It took the strength and willpower of her father to pull the family out, but not before suffering the typical neglect and discrimination associated with belonging to these religious groups.
Rebecca sets out to tell her father's story in this book- his childhood, his marriages, his rise in the church, and his abandonment. She follows him until his death.

This is an informative piece. I had never heard of the Exclusive Brethren. It's a moving tribute to her father's memory as well as a cathartic action in Rebecca's healing and forgiving process. I'm certain she views her father in a different light now. We should all have to opportunity to have our fathers open up their pasts to us.

<b>**I received a digital copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**</b>

<b>Introduction</b>
Rebecca Stott was born fourth-generation Exclusive Brethren, an infamous and extremely conservative Christian-based cult. How did those experiences shape her development and the rest of her life? How much did it contribute to her father's volatile personality?

<b>The story</b>
Ms. Stott promised her father that she would write a book about his life. She spent the first seven or so years of her life in the Exclusive Brethren, an extreme version of the Plymouth Brethren, during which time her father was a very prominent member. She shares her experiences, which are validated and fleshed-out using news clippings and interviews from other former members. Her father died before the book could be completed; however, Ms. Stott attempts to honor his memory as she exposes the volatile and unforgiving world of the Exclusive Brethren, starting in the early years of her great-grandparents and continuing through her childhood and the years immediately following her family's withdrawal.

<b>Literary analysis</b>
I was disappointed in the overall content of this book. The topic - one family's experiences in a cult - was promising and I had high hopes. The book spends a lot of time building up to the actual cult information. The author talks at length about her promise to her father, her struggle to find the time/energy to write the book, her fears surrounding the controversial topic, etc. Once she gets to what is, in my opinion, the meat of the book, it is hard to follow. The timeline bounces around constantly. I regularly had to go back a few pages or even chapters to try to figure out where I was in her historical context. The ending was also unsatisfactory, leaving me feeling like the author had simply run out of things to say and so ended rather glibly.

There were several supposedly Biblical references that were incorrect (e.g. the author states that Joseph was the youngest son of Jacob; this is not true - Benjamin was the youngest son.), as well as grammatical errors. As I received an advance copy, I expect that some of these mistakes have been corrected before publication in July 2017. I found this book difficult to read and considered abandoning it more than once.

<b>Conclusion</b>
I do not recommend this book. There are surely better historical and even personal accounts of the Exclusive Brethren out there if you are curious. The errors and disjointed nature of this book, along with the Ms. Stott's style of writing, were not engaging or easy to read. This is, however, only my opinion as requested by the publisher in exchange for this honest review.

I appreciate Netgalley giving me the opportunity to read this book and Rebecca Stott's willingness to share her story, but I'll be honest - I had a very hard time getting into this book. It just felt more informative than I was expecting, I guess. Stott's story is interesting but I wasn't expecting as much history on Exclusive Brethren as was given in this book. I feel that the history lesson was a bit much and dulled the book down.

I will start off by saying I love learning about cults, and this book really interested me since I've never heard of the Brethren before, and was eager to learn about it. However, this book was not as interesting and amazing as I hoped it would be. The idea is solid enough, and though I did learn quite a bit about the cult and moving on from it, I have to agree with other reviewers who state the book was often repetitive on certain points (Does the father have a gambling problem? After the third time hearing about it, I'm still thinking he does), but doesn't put enough emphasis on others, such as what day to day life actually WAS like in the Brethren. When it hit the sweet spot of being non-repetitive and told the story the author wanted to tell, it was actually fairly good, but that didn't happen often enough to garner a higher rating than a three for me. I feel like the biggest flaw was trying to tell two stories at the same time. It just doesn't do any of them justice when they both have interesting parts that are unique to the sex like many cults are. I feel having a rotating POV of the father and the daughter would have been a more effective way than the slapdash way the two were put together, but that's just my opinion. Overall, I was entertained by the book, but I don't think I'd highly recommend it for someone who likes books about cults.

In the Days of Rain: A Daughter, a Father, a Cult is a memoir that lives up to its descriptive title. As her father is dying, Rebecca Stott agrees to finish his memoirs. In doing so, she tells the story of four generations including her own. Starting with her great-grandfather, her family had been part of a religious sect called the Brethren. While her family is located in England, the Protestant sect had members and various divisions throughout the world.

At the center of the story is the decade of the 1960s, which Stott’s father dramatically refers to as the “Nazi decade.” During this time, the leader of the Brethren became more and more eccentric and exclusive, essentially creating a cult rather than a religious sect. Many of their practices reminded me of Scientology, based on memoirs like Troublemaker and Beyond Belief.

Stott describes what this cult/sect felt like from her child’s view perspective. Then she goes on to research and report on what her parents and other adult church members learned at that time. Much of what happened drove families like hers from the Brethren, and leaving such a closed community has long-reaching effects. Jobs are lost and marriages wrecked, but lives can be saved as well. Scott’s descriptions of the many discipline-related suicides among cult members is chilling and depressing.

The thread among the historical accounts is Stott’s relationship with her father, Roger. He was a unique soul, to be sure. She’s unflinching in her description of his charms and his oddities. It’s apparent that Roger had an addictive personality, whether for gambling, whiskey, or religious structure. Yet she stuck by him until the end, and the love they shared was present if not always obvious.

Much of this book resonated with me because of my own unique family history. My parents raised me in an obscure and cult-like Protestant religion. Unlike the Stotts, they never left that religion although I did. I’ve often described my own dad as an odd duck, with addictive tendencies. And we loved each other deeply, like Rebecca and Roger.

Beyond the family similarities, I also found Stott’s writing easy to read. She deftly intersperses the historical details with family anecdotes and jaw-dropping religious restrictions. Ultimately, the book was an immersive experience, perhaps partly because I read most of it during the 24in48 readathon last weekend. So much of the story is sad and frustrating that I wouldn’t call this a fun book. But it’s fascinating to slip inside a quasi-religious cult without having to actually join.

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House, Spiegel & Grau, and the author for a digital advance reader’s copy in exchange for this honest review.

I received a copy of this memoir from the publisher via NetGalley. I requested it after reading a review in the Guardian and am glad I did so.

The author tells the story of her childhood growing up in the Exclusive Brethren church, where her father (and her grandfather) was a preacher and a priest. As a result of the increasingly extreme teachings of the leader of the worldwide Exclusive Brethren during the 1960s, the denomination became more or less a cult. Then, after scandalous sexual behaviour and alcoholism on the part of the leader, the church imploded and Rebecca's father took them out of the Brethren church altogether.

The memoir is written after the death of Rebecca's father. He has been unable to finish his planned memoir and Rebecca has felt obliged to take over the task. For the most part I found this an interesting read, and at times it was fascinating. The author manages to portray her father with affection, but without glossing over his (sometimes appalling) behaviour.

I learnt a lot about Brethren theology and the position of women in the church. It is astonishing to me that, even when more or less everything was forbidden, alcohol was still allowed. The author was very good at describing how confused and adrift she felt after the adults in her life turned away from what she had been told was absolute truth.

On the other hand, I was frustrated by the limits of what the memoir revealed. I really wanted to hear Rebecca's mother's side of the story and how what happened affected her siblings. What was the stepmother's story? What had her father truly believed? Had he never believed? If so, what about the "Mere Christianity" conversion experience? If he had once believed, was it merely in the specific teachings of the leader? Why did he never join another church, as Rebecca's mother did?

The section dealing with the downfall of the church leader was told partly in a transcript of a portion of a mad drunken speech and partly by witness statements. Although I had no sympathy for him or his behaviour, including the transcript seemed underhand in some way - it made me feel uneasy. The witness accounts about Mrs Ker, on the other hand were so sterile as to be unenlightening. What were the witnesses thinking? What was their plan?

My ARC has several typos etc, which I hope will be picked up.

In the Days of Rain is a memoir of a woman who grew up in a cult community until a scandal wrenched her family out of it. I had never heard of this British cult. Reading about it was both interesting and repulsive. I've never understood how mature people submit to others telling them how to dress, think, and act. The author delves deeply into theology of the cult and at times those parts were difficult to slog through. She also details her father's downward spiral after leaving the cult, largely of his own making.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.

I've always been fascinated by religious cults, particularly since I now believe I had once been introduced to one. This book is written by an adult daughter when she comes back home to look after her dying Father, and decides to write about her childhood and her father's involvement in the upper echelon of the Exclusive Brethren. It was a harsh and restrictive time that she grew up in, trying to adapt at making friends and attend school when she wasn't allowed to have contact with those that weren't Exclusive Brethren. She wasn't even allowed to eat with people at the same table that weren't of the same faith. While finding this bizarre, and the rules the group was to follow continually changing, I didn't find it much different than any other book I've read of extreme fundamentalist Christian sects that shun others and become more strict as the group becomes smaller, and there are threats from within especially when the Rapture dates kept changing. The author's skills at writing were good, and the historical references to how the Brethren came about were interesting, but I found that a lot of the information was repetitive and later, just not really interesting.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley providing a copy of this book for an honest review.

I had a hard time getting into this book. I thought it was a bit dry. Since I did not finish the book, I do not intend to publish a review.

I first read Stott's work in my fourth year of university. My advanced Victorian literature class focused on science in literature during the time period so Stott's "Darwin and the Barnacle" and "Darwin's Ghosts" was our jumping off point. Our professor wanted to give us a historical context to set us up for later works in the class. When "In the Days of Rain" popped up on NetGalley, it was automatic to request a copy.

Stott's narrative is engrossing, pulling you head first into the world she is describing whether it be Darwin or her own history. There are points in time where truth is stranger than fiction and Stott's childhood could easily be one of those points. Especially in the current world it is much better to be aware that we are not seeing everything as it truly is. Shiny, smiling faces hides worlds full of abuse, and control.

The Brethren are a cult plain and simple, Stott has no issues calling a spade a spade. Her aftermath, however, is much more real than what is shown through television documentaries. It is learning how to live in a world you were told to despise. It is figuring out for yourself where you are supposed to go and what you want to believe, not what you are told to believe. There is a jarring jump from creationism to evolution, and I expect when I re-read Stott's previous work my understanding of her own origins will give a new perspective to her portrayal and examination of Darwin.

Overall, I am exceedingly pleased with this book and am overjoyed that she has shared her story. While my review may be a little mangled, I have nothing but positive feelings towards this book as a whole.

No one would guess that I was raised in a Christian fundamentalist cult or that my father and grandfather were ministering brothers in one of the most reclusive and savage Protestant sects in British history.

Author Rebecca Stott is the daughter of Roger Stott, a minister turned defector of the Exclusive Brethren, England's branch of a separatist Christian cult. This memoir is her attempt to make sense of her childhood in the Christian evangelical cult and her father's paradoxical behavior, both as a member and after his defection.

Much of the book is written from her child's perspective, with its accompanying confusion and dreaminess. The project stemmed from Stott's presence at her father's bedside as he was dying. He gave her the beginnings of a memoir manuscript he'd tried writing, and asked her to finish it. So she tells his story, using the historical timelines he'd assembled, fleshing out her family's place in this oppressive, controlling organization that grew increasingly isolated under the control of an alcoholic, delusional egomaniac (we've heard this story before, about so many cults and sects, but I feel it's worth pointing out every time, because history repeats and repeats and repeats and many don't seem to notice or learn.)

How had so many clever, good people been led into such a cruel system? How had men like my father allowed themselves to become extractors and interrogators, bullying people into confessing imaginary sins?

Father and daughter developed a strange but strong connection over their lifetimes; although she didn't speak to him for a long period, they eventually became close, bonding over a love of literature and theater that for so long was denied them under the strict, isolating rules of the Brethren sect.

I felt like a cuckoo in the nest, an interloper, the child who didn't fit. But then I was also often certain that none of us did fit. They sometimes cheated on Brethren rules, aside from her mother. Transgressions included use of technology like radios or cameras, going to the cinema, reading nearly anything non-religious including the comics her brothers hid under their beds, and talking with "worldly" people, meaning secular people outside the Brethren.

Her mother refers to their time in the cult as being "caught up" in it: My family hadn't belonged to the Brethren, we'd been caught up in them. Caught up like a coat catching on thorns. Caught up in a scandal. Caught up in the arms of the Lord. Whichever way you phrased it, it meant you didn't get to choose, and that there was no getting away."

She uses the tool of questioning from a child's wondering, curious perspective to try to make sense of much of what she experienced and was raised to believe was normal throughout her lifetime. This is countered with her questioning as an adult of her place in the secular world, having come from an ancestral line that was so deeply involved in the Brethren: "After a while it was impossible to tell what was authentic and what was performed, what you believed and what you merely said you believed. You began to wonder which parts of you were true anymore."
In her childhood, she heard voices and saw nightmarish visions in the dark; it seems such imagery was deliberately planted by the Brethren, even in adult minds. A Brethren friend relates to her what his father told him about the secular world: "Outside the door, son, there is only darkness."

After a strongly written, emotional opening, the narrative continues into a historical description of the Exclusive Brethren, their separation from the Open Brethren, and the paths that Stott's ancestors took, eventually resulting in her immediate family's existence. It was necessary backstory, but came across a bit dull and dry.

The narrative is jumpy, and sometimes focuses too much on simple details and simplistic statements without pulling back to show the bigger picture, leaving the reader somewhat lost. I think the effect was meant to show the mental trauma and anguish one experiences for a lifetime following such a background.

On the positive side, the inclusion of excellent photographs alongside the text was wonderful - the illustrative aspect helped when the history got a little dry.

The strongest element is the bond that Rebecca and her father forged through their shared loves, and how his presence helps guide her, even after his death, and inspires her to tell the stories from the inside. It's also interesting that they defected as a family, as often these stories involve a separation or shunning when one family members chooses to leave an abusive, controlling organization. It's clear that an important part of Stott's experience were the changes and choices she and her father made simultaneously in response to the shock of leaving the Brethren and merging with the rest of the world.

There are counselors now who specialize in treating ex-cult members after they've experienced long periods of mind control...They used to call this process "deprogramming." But...I'd call it decompression. We'd been a very long way down to the bottom of some kind of sea. There was no easy way back up without getting the bends.

The combination of personal dreaminess and reflection with stark history of a secretive, dangerous organization (member suicides were far from uncommon) makes an engaging, often emotional read.