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Chosen
The rise of a religious cult intertwines with the secret history of a family in this tale from a master of suspense at the top of her game The last time Dodie sees her mother alive, Stella is unusually busy, tattily splendid in an old red velvet dress. Soon after, Dodie's brother Seth goes the only trace of him is through postcards signed "Yours in the Lord" addressed from the Soul Life Centre, New York state. When Stella hangs herself, Dodie must leave her baby Jake at home and cross the Atlantic to bring Seth beck from the mysterious Soul Life Centre. But when she arrives, Seth is always one day away from seeing her. She becomes drawn, not always willingly, into the Brothers and Sisters' communal living, meditation, fasting, and chanting—until baby Jake unexpectedly arrives at Soul Life and events take a shocking turn for Dodie. In a parallel narrative, Stella's sister Melanie tells the story of their teenage years in the 1970s and their shared affair with Bogart, a messianic hippy with shrewd ambition. These two compelling stories collide in a series of shocking revelations and an exhilarating conclusion.
320 pages, Paperback
First published May 6, 2010
3 people are currently reading
104 people want to read
About the author
Lesley Glaister
47 books402 followersNovelist Lesley Glaister was born in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England. She grew up in Suffolk, moving to Sheffield with her first husband, where she took a degree with the Open University. She was 'discovered' by the novelist Hilary Mantel when she attended a course given by the Arvon Foundation in 1989. Mantel was so impressed by her writing that she recommended her to her own literary agent.
Lesley Glaister's first novel, Honour Thy Father (1990), won both a Somerset Maugham Award and a Betty Trask Award. Her other novels include Trick or Treat (1991), Limestone and Clay (1993), for which she was awarded the Yorkshire Post Book Award (Yorkshire Author of the Year), Partial Eclipse (1994) and The Private Parts of Women (1996), Now You See Me (2001), the story of the unlikely relationship between Lamb, a former patient in a psychiatric ward, and Doggo, a fugitive on the run from the police, As Far as You Can Go (2004), a psychological drama, in which a young couple, Graham and Cassie, travel to a remote part of Australia to take up a caretaking job, only to be drawn into the dark secrets of their mysterious employers. Nina Todd Has Gone (2007) was another complex psychological thriller. Chosen, a dark and suspenseful book about a woman trying to rescue her brother from a cult, was followed by Little Egypt in 2014. This novel - set in the 20's in Northern England and Egypt, won a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Award. Her next novel, The Squeeze, published 2017, centres on a relationship between a teenage Romanian sex-worker - a victim of trafficking - and a law-abiding, family man from Oslo. It's an unusual and (of course, twisted!) love story. Because not all love is romantic. In 2020 Blasted Things was published. This one is set just after World War 1 and is about the warping after-effects of a global war on society and on individuals. The two main characters, Clementine and Vincent, both damaged in different ways, must find their way in the post-war period. For them this results in a most peculiar kind of relationship and one that can only end in distaster.
Lesley Glaister lives with her husband in Edinburgh with frequent sojourns in Orkney. She has three sons and teaches Creative Writing at the University or St Andrews. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Lesley Glaister's first novel, Honour Thy Father (1990), won both a Somerset Maugham Award and a Betty Trask Award. Her other novels include Trick or Treat (1991), Limestone and Clay (1993), for which she was awarded the Yorkshire Post Book Award (Yorkshire Author of the Year), Partial Eclipse (1994) and The Private Parts of Women (1996), Now You See Me (2001), the story of the unlikely relationship between Lamb, a former patient in a psychiatric ward, and Doggo, a fugitive on the run from the police, As Far as You Can Go (2004), a psychological drama, in which a young couple, Graham and Cassie, travel to a remote part of Australia to take up a caretaking job, only to be drawn into the dark secrets of their mysterious employers. Nina Todd Has Gone (2007) was another complex psychological thriller. Chosen, a dark and suspenseful book about a woman trying to rescue her brother from a cult, was followed by Little Egypt in 2014. This novel - set in the 20's in Northern England and Egypt, won a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Award. Her next novel, The Squeeze, published 2017, centres on a relationship between a teenage Romanian sex-worker - a victim of trafficking - and a law-abiding, family man from Oslo. It's an unusual and (of course, twisted!) love story. Because not all love is romantic. In 2020 Blasted Things was published. This one is set just after World War 1 and is about the warping after-effects of a global war on society and on individuals. The two main characters, Clementine and Vincent, both damaged in different ways, must find their way in the post-war period. For them this results in a most peculiar kind of relationship and one that can only end in distaster.
Lesley Glaister lives with her husband in Edinburgh with frequent sojourns in Orkney. She has three sons and teaches Creative Writing at the University or St Andrews. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
December 31, 2017
The only mildly interesting plot detail of this book was that a female character executed her suicide by hanging while wearing a red velvet gown, with a plain brown paper bag covering her head, on the inside of which she wrote her suicide note. I was intrigued by the detail about the note having been written inside the bag, because it couldn’t have been the easiest writing to do as it doubtless involved a degree of awkward manipulation. I wondered why someone might undertake a somewhat frustrating exercise right before diving off a stairway bannister. I mean, even if she was super into reclycling and didn’t want to waste any more paper to write her note, that still doesn’t explain the positioning of the note inside the bag .... hmmm. Unless she thought perhaps an even more committed recycler might want to reuse the bag, so she was being considerate in the note’s positioning. That said, I love when fashion intersects with utility, so I appreciated the whole visual of the thing. Whether it’s a red velvet dress, or a green tulle dress, a paper bag, or a burlap bag ..... it’s all about choices, isn’t it?
I, for one, am choosing to forget the rest of this book.
I, for one, am choosing to forget the rest of this book.
June 22, 2021
It's the one of the most emotional thriller I've read recently. It's got the edge of your seat excitement to it but it also gives you sadness for the people effected by the cult. Very interesting and readable, would definitely pick something else up by Lesley Glaister.
August 12, 2020
wow. Really gripping! I love the understated way Lesley Glaister revealed the inner workings of the cult, how it evolved, and what it was up to. Felt totally believable and almost understandable.
November 15, 2011
Dodie’s mother Stella has always been depressed and withdrawn. Then Dodie, herself now a mother to young Jake, visits her one day asking after her teenage younger brother Seth, and Stella seems uncharacteristically more lively than usual. Seth, who Dodie enjoys a good relationship with, has disappeared, and the only clue to his whereabouts is a postcard she receives from a place called the ‘Soul-Life’ centre in New York, which she later discovers is the home of a religious cult. The next time Dodie visits her mother, a tragedy has occurred. Dodie heads to New York to try and find Seth and bring him home. Dodie’s feckless partner Rod is of little support to her in this.
The clever structure of the novel means that we first read about Dodie’s present day story, drawn in and then left on a cliffhanger, and then a second narrative begins part way into the novel and tells the story of sisters Stella and Melanie, starting back in the 1970’s. They lose their mother early and Melanie, as the eldest, looks after them both, with some help from their Aunt and her partner. They meet and fall under the influence of an older dropout, and this man will change the course of both their lives forever. Finally, the novel concludes with a short section written back in the present, as the two strands come together. There are revelations in the second part of the story that had me thinking back to the first part, rethinking and reassessing everything I’d read.
This is a dark and chilling psychological thriller. It really gripped me, and I found I actually felt very tense whilst reading it, and felt the claustrophobia that the character was enduring. It was very effective at portraying the dangers of a religious cult, and how, once an individual is inside, they can be coerced, intrigued, persuaded, drugged and mislead into starting to believe what is being drummed into them day and night. It’s like a nightmare unfolding, truly terrifying, a compelling read.
The clever structure of the novel means that we first read about Dodie’s present day story, drawn in and then left on a cliffhanger, and then a second narrative begins part way into the novel and tells the story of sisters Stella and Melanie, starting back in the 1970’s. They lose their mother early and Melanie, as the eldest, looks after them both, with some help from their Aunt and her partner. They meet and fall under the influence of an older dropout, and this man will change the course of both their lives forever. Finally, the novel concludes with a short section written back in the present, as the two strands come together. There are revelations in the second part of the story that had me thinking back to the first part, rethinking and reassessing everything I’d read.
This is a dark and chilling psychological thriller. It really gripped me, and I found I actually felt very tense whilst reading it, and felt the claustrophobia that the character was enduring. It was very effective at portraying the dangers of a religious cult, and how, once an individual is inside, they can be coerced, intrigued, persuaded, drugged and mislead into starting to believe what is being drummed into them day and night. It’s like a nightmare unfolding, truly terrifying, a compelling read.
May 27, 2013
I thought this was a neatly executed thriller with an unusual structure - in which two apparently separate stories turn out to be tightly bound up with one another. I enjoyed in a rather mechanical sort of way. Maybe I like books which are more inward and/or more experimental and/or where the prose style has been honed to the nth degree.
I was attracted to this book because it deals with cults. I was once involved with a very dodgy religious group, so I was interested to see if Leslie Glaister's novel could reflect the sort of tension between involvement and detachment which people hovering on the brink of such circles can feel.
However 'Chosen' deals with the full-on Moonie type experience. It doesn't indicate how seductive spiritual groups can be, and how they can appear to give a kind of freedom that is found in the everyday world. 'Adam' the leader appears a flawed, manipulative and selfish character from the start. However I was interested by the way his 'wife' Martha/Melanie alternates between seeing through him, and being completely under his thumb.
There is some interesting material in this book about the relationship between sisters - and also the love one woman can have for somebody else's child. But I felt this all got rather swept aside because of the demands of the fast-paced plot, (I probably only enjoyed the book in a 'three star' way, but thought that it was probably a 'four star' example of its particular genre..)
I was attracted to this book because it deals with cults. I was once involved with a very dodgy religious group, so I was interested to see if Leslie Glaister's novel could reflect the sort of tension between involvement and detachment which people hovering on the brink of such circles can feel.
However 'Chosen' deals with the full-on Moonie type experience. It doesn't indicate how seductive spiritual groups can be, and how they can appear to give a kind of freedom that is found in the everyday world. 'Adam' the leader appears a flawed, manipulative and selfish character from the start. However I was interested by the way his 'wife' Martha/Melanie alternates between seeing through him, and being completely under his thumb.
There is some interesting material in this book about the relationship between sisters - and also the love one woman can have for somebody else's child. But I felt this all got rather swept aside because of the demands of the fast-paced plot, (I probably only enjoyed the book in a 'three star' way, but thought that it was probably a 'four star' example of its particular genre..)
February 23, 2015
So unbelievably boring that I still can't believe I got to the end.
March 25, 2019
This was really good. I grabbed it as a paperback from my libraries crime section while picking up a glut of books & was pleasantly surprised to find its been the best of the pile so far. The first half of the book is great, really exciting & edge of your seat suspense. I was actually irritated when part one ended on a cliffhanger & the second part started off fairly slowly, I wanted more action dammit! but Stella's back story is interesting enough but she does become a bit of a caricature by the end. I wasn't entirely convinced of her motivations & Melanie's ability to be swayed so easily. One of the things that annoyed me was the intense rivalry between Martha & Hannah, surely they would have grown out of it by their 60s? The other is a spoiler. This book really does make you think, my spoiler just made me think of 50 other things. I will look up some more of this author's work.
June 15, 2024
A slow build psychological thriller about a cult. Stella is found hanging from the banister by her daughter, Dodie. Stella's son, Seth, has disappeared and is apparently in America with relatives. But according to Dodie, they have no American relatives.
A wonderful story set in England and America. It was my second read and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time.
A wonderful story set in England and America. It was my second read and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time.
May 13, 2019
The really well developed characters in this book make it the page turner that it is, Glaister has done an awesome job, starting the story then looping back round to the very beginning and seeing it through to the very end, no stone left unturned and no questions left unanswered.
October 15, 2014
I have been an admirer of Lesley Glaister for many years. Her novels generally include themes of madness, alienation and dysfunction and her prose is full of lovely metaphors and sometimes startling images that evoke immediate reader empathy. Interestingly Glaister was discovered by Hilary Man tell whilst doing a course with the Arvon Foundation. This is a tale of two sisters Melanie and Stella who are left in classic babes in the wood style to fend for themselves. Into their vulnerable adolescent world comes the aptly named Bogart, an older drug using hippy who has sex with Melanie with terrible consequences, introduces the sisters to acid and squats in their house. What was already dysfunctional becomes even more so when Bogart high on acid believes that Jesus has spoken to him in the guise of a heron and thus the growth of the cult begins. The novel cleverly weaves together the stories of the sisters and their relationships with the cult . The story being full of both redemptive and destructive qualities and is in its way suspenseful. I liked the portrayal of the flawed Stella in her red crushed velvet patchouli smelling dress attending a Christmas wedding and a tragic winter death. The message that cults entice vulnerable people in sinistely portrayed and the character of Martha/Melanie is ambiguous to the end. Glaister is also very good on making ordinary objects memorable the rosewood table in Stella's kitchen, the knitted Clanger toy that sits in Stella's sleeve, Rod' s smokey smelling leather jacket, Aunt Regina's coloured glasses........ Glaister's quirky unsettling style in my view elevates the in some ways predictable nasty little tale into something much more interesting and involving.
August 1, 2012
Dodie hasn't had an easy upbringing. Her mother, Stella, suffers from depression, and never knew how to show her daughter love. Dodie never knew her father, and was told only that he had 'died in a car crash'. Her younger brother Seth is the most important person in Dodie's life. But he's gone missing, mysteriously gone to America to stay with relatives that Dodie never knew existed.
Dodie has some news for Seth, and she can't bare to do it by letter or phone, so she follows him to America. There she is slowly entrapped in a religious movement - and is always just one day away from seeing Seth. All she wants to do is check he's okay and get out of there.
In parallel to this story, Dodie's aunt explains their upbringing, and how they came to meet Bogart - a man who would change the course of both their lives, and that of Stella's future children, forever.
Finally the two strands of the story combine to conclude this dark and tense thriller
Great story. Had to sneak away from my desk at work to finish this when lunch inconveniently ended with 2 chapters left to go.
Dodie has some news for Seth, and she can't bare to do it by letter or phone, so she follows him to America. There she is slowly entrapped in a religious movement - and is always just one day away from seeing Seth. All she wants to do is check he's okay and get out of there.
In parallel to this story, Dodie's aunt explains their upbringing, and how they came to meet Bogart - a man who would change the course of both their lives, and that of Stella's future children, forever.
Finally the two strands of the story combine to conclude this dark and tense thriller
Great story. Had to sneak away from my desk at work to finish this when lunch inconveniently ended with 2 chapters left to go.
August 20, 2020
This was a fascinating book about the lives of a family affected by their involvement, either directly or indirectly with a cult set up in the seventies. The story spans the years up to the present day and shows the devastation caused by one man's influence, whether he believes his own delusions or whether he is just a liar is not clear but the far-reaching effect on one particular family is massive. Although one of the characters is fundamentally unstable anyway there are many others whose lives are taken over and ultimately wasted by their blind belief in the ramblings of one man. I felt a great deal of frustration and some sympathy for the main protagonists but the urge to give them a 'good shaking ' to bring them to their senses was upmost in my mind a lot of the time whilst reading the book. The frightening thing is that there are such organisations operating and the lives of real people are being affected in this way.
June 14, 2012
I loved this book. It is an intriguing tale of a family's reluctant yet generation-spanning involvement with a cult. The plot is excellent, starting in the present day with one character's sudden immersion in, to her, an unknown cult, then jumping back to the 1970s with incredible revelations from her mother's generation. The family deals with religion, mental illness, polygamy, parenting and suicide against a dreary backdrop of suburban Britain. I could not put this book down!
This is the first novel by Lesley Glaister, and I definitely want to read more, particularly 'As Far As You Can Go'. However, I was disappointed to find that 'Chosen' seems to be her only book published on Kindle. I hope the publisher rectifies this soon.
This is the first novel by Lesley Glaister, and I definitely want to read more, particularly 'As Far As You Can Go'. However, I was disappointed to find that 'Chosen' seems to be her only book published on Kindle. I hope the publisher rectifies this soon.
October 26, 2024
I almost didn't read this much beyond page 40; the claustrophobia and insidious nastiness of the cult was too horrible. But Lesley Glaister's writing made the characters sufficiently sympathetic that I wanted to know what happened, so I speed-read a lot of the middle bits to get to the end.
Which was perfectly satisfactory. Nevertheless since the rating is about the enjoyment of a book rather than its merits I can only give it a single star. Sorry.
And changed my mind again - one star really did not feel fair when the writing is so good. And I've just received 'The private parts of women, and am looking forward to reading that
Which was perfectly satisfactory. Nevertheless since the rating is about the enjoyment of a book rather than its merits I can only give it a single star. Sorry.
And changed my mind again - one star really did not feel fair when the writing is so good. And I've just received 'The private parts of women, and am looking forward to reading that
July 14, 2010
a tautly written page turner: there's a suicide and disappearance in the first few pages and the plot unravels around those events. It's about a religious cult and its devastating effect on a family. I loved the bits about the seventies, particularly the acid trips:
Words had turned to lizards in my mouth.. the tails were uncomfortable in my teeth..
Rang a few bells with me. In honour of this I've stuck a 1973 pic of me up - just for a bit...
Back to the book: yes good solid read, perhaps a bit too much explaining to do in the latter quarter to tie up all the loose ends.
Words had turned to lizards in my mouth.. the tails were uncomfortable in my teeth..
Rang a few bells with me. In honour of this I've stuck a 1973 pic of me up - just for a bit...
Back to the book: yes good solid read, perhaps a bit too much explaining to do in the latter quarter to tie up all the loose ends.
December 15, 2013
I really enjoyed this book it kept my interest all the way through. The balance of suspense and background information was about right. Some of the main characters were likeable and others came across a little bit "pantomime villainy' and superficial. However, I did feel that the characters could have been developed a little more. This aside though The plot was chilling and totally feasible of what does/can happen in these situation. The lack of character development didn't prevent me from enjoying this book. All in all an enjoyable, chilling page turner.
January 15, 2014
What a great read! Sounded a bit like a thriller but was so much more than that. Was suspenseful learning about a cult and the people who ran it but there was so much behind the story that was so interesting too. Mainly about 2 sisters and a family broken by mental illness and torn apart by tragedy. I really enjoyed how the characters eventually intertwined, I couldn't guess that was coming was very cleverly written.I will definitely be seeking out more books by Lesley Glaister.
November 5, 2012
Very good read. It took me a while to get into it and I didn't much like the first bit about Dodie, but once I reached the section on Stella and Melanie It all started to hang together and I was hooked. In fact I went back and re-read the first few chapters. I liked the ending. Just enough resolution to satisfy without tying things up too neatly. A page turner
July 22, 2012
After seeing this books' title, I simply had to pick it up from the library, tribe fan as I am. ;)
And the intro sounded promising.
I got what I had hoped for and even a bit more, necause the two storylines in this book are really nicely intertwined and make you root for the main characters as well.
A nice summer read.
And the intro sounded promising.
I got what I had hoped for and even a bit more, necause the two storylines in this book are really nicely intertwined and make you root for the main characters as well.
A nice summer read.
August 25, 2012
Enjoyed very much. It was a great surprise to find that the part which explained the history of how the whole cult started was set in the seaside town where I live! So the setting was very familiar. All I can say is avoid hippy men on drugs and herons!!!
February 6, 2013
This novel is based around a cult, which is a little offputting, but the cleverness is in the pulling together of the different stories in the two sections of the book.
Magnificent story telling as usual, with great understanding of realtionships
Magnificent story telling as usual, with great understanding of realtionships
September 27, 2014
3.5* Read on a long drive back from the south of France. I don't think the word 'enjoy' is appropriate for this book. It is very gripping, and good for the car journey, but rather contrived. The quality of writing is good.
May 16, 2024
I read this book “The Chosen” when it was first released. I loved it. It’s very memorable. “The acorn”, “Martha”. A cult story about family, sisters and daughters. It made me cry. It really moved me. I have a copy on my kindle. I must read it again. It’s one of those stories that stay with you.
October 14, 2011
3.5*
Good story line .
Although the start was boring , but later part picked up the pace and can you keep at edge to complete the book at one shot
Good story line .
Although the start was boring , but later part picked up the pace and can you keep at edge to complete the book at one shot
March 25, 2012
This is a page turner. Keeps you reading even (or especially) after you figure out what's going on.
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September 5, 2014Utterly engrossing. This is a new author for me, and I'll definitely be reading more of her work.
June 13, 2016
oh a page turner, utterly absorbing and superbly written with an unusual and unexpected twist.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews