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This feminist novel by the author of Separate Tracks and The Ice is Singing received the Somerset Maugham Award. It is the story of Carolyn Tanner, a woman equally at home in two separate worlds - one as a devoted wife and mother, and the other as an independent feminist.

John Wroe, prophet of the apocalyptic Christian Israelite Church, made his headquarters in Lancashire in the 1820s. When God told him to comfort himself with seven virgins, his congregation gave him their daughters. Each woman in Wroe’s household, from brutalised Martha to saintly Joanna, has her own secret hopes of a new life – either in heaven or on earth – at a point in history when anything seems possible. And each has her own view of the prophet. But accusations of indecency, and the trial that follows, bring Wroe’s household to a dramatic end.

The television adaptation was directed by Danny Boyle, who also directed the film versions of Trainspotting and The Beach.


Management Teaching use: Charismatic leadership and the public image that such leaders have to present are at the centre of this novel. The text is also viewed from the point of view of the followers. As such we get an unusual view of how 'middle management' go through various stages of admiration and disillusion. The text also shows how an organisation will fall apart when the leader who provides the inspiration either themselves become disillusioned or external forces force out. It shows that unless a separate infrastructure independent of the character of the originator is in place there is no future for such a fragile organisation. This happens so often in industry that this is a phenomenon, which could usefully be discussed in class.