Has she escaped one prison environment for another? More importantly, does she have the strength to disappear again and where would she go, estranged from her family as she is? When Alice is chosen for a privileged position at Henry's right hand her worst fears may be about to be confirmed. Then things start to feel a bit wrong and certain practices which involve some of Alice's new friends seem slightly abhorrent. At first, Alice is overwhelmed by a satisfied feeling of relief that she has finally figured out where she belongs and idolises Henry, looking for any opportunity to be closer to him and drink in his magical words.

After listening to a stranger preach and being passionately affected by it, Alice decides to run away and join his group, The Agapemonites which is a woman's only colony of a new religious order ruled over by Henry Prince known to the women who stay with him as their Beloved. The final straw comes for Alice when her mother manages to convince the family that she is insane and should be committed to an asylum. Her mother is incredibly manipulative and seems to delight in punishing her daughter when she strays too far from what she thinks a young Victorian lady should be. As with her previous two novels, Alison features a strong young female heroine, in this case Alice, who lives with her emotionally abusive mother and her father and brother who she is closer to. without even reading a synopsis I have faith that her books are going to move me in some way and she hasn't proved me wrong so far. This is Alison Rattle's third historical novel following the wonderful The Quietness and The Madness, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed and cemented her as one of my 'auto buy' authors i.e. Instead of freedom, is Alice in fact more trapped, alone and in danger than ever before?

Prince ignites a passion in Alice that she never knew existed, and she dares to think she might be free at last.īut as Alice becomes more deeply drawn into the life of Prince's strange religious sect, secrets are revealed that seem to hint at a darker nature lurking behind the man's charm. She escapes to join the Agapemonites in their Abode of Love, where ex-Reverend Henry Prince rules his isolated colony of women as their Beloved.

A constant disappointment to all but her doting father, she longs for the day that she might break free from the stifling atmosphere of her mother's rule.Īfter a chance encounter with a charming stranger, and a final incident with her family that sees her condemned to the madhouse, Alice sees her opportunity to run and grasps it with both hands. Escape from a bullying mother takes one young woman to an even more dangerous place.Īlice Angel has known only a life of rules, restriction and punishments as she strays from the rigid path of Victorian proprietary that her mother has set out for her.

The Beloved by Alison Rattle