Abode of Love: Growing Up in a Messianic Cult [Paperback]

Kate Barlow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 2006

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. 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.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Abode of Love is Kate Barlow’s remarkable story of growing up in a religious cult. In 1948, she and her mother went to live with her two sisters, her grandmother, and some 20 elderly ladies at the Agapemone, a ramshackle estate in the village of Spaxton in southwest England. Young Kate’s curiosity about her new home and her family was met with a wall of secrecy, but at age 14 she had pieced together enough of the story to understand the rest. Founded in the nineteenth century, the Agapemone (Greek for “abode of love”) was led by her grandfather, who claimed to be the reincarnation of the Messiah. What’s more, her grandmother was not his legal wife, but his “spiritual bride,” and some of the other ladies who lived at the estate had also been his consorts.

About the Author

Kate Barlow spent her childhood at Agapemone in Spaxton, Somerset, England. She served in the Women’s Royal Air Force in the early 1960s where she attained the rank of Flying Officer — a bit of misnomer as she says women were not allowed to fly back then. They also had to leave the forces once they were married, so in 1965 she left the WRAF. Ms. Barlow raised two sons and waited until coming to Canada to embark on a new career in journalism. She studied at Sheridan College in the early 1980s, going on to a rewarding career as a reporter with the Hamilton Spectator. Ms. Barlow says it was the kind of career she had always wanted. “I remember wanting to be a newspaper reporter when I was about 16 — was it seeing the press posse waiting outside the gates of the A after my grandmother died? Probably, as I can still remember my fascination with the press appearance.” Kate Barlow now lives in Oakville, Ontario. Abode of Love is her first book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Goose Lane Editions; No edition edition (September 8, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0864924577
• ISBN-13: 978-0864924575
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,783,765 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Her story of being raised in the cult, April 10, 2007

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abode of Love: Growing Up in a Messianic Cult (Paperback)

Part autobiography/family memoir and part religious inspection, ABODE OF LOVE: GROWING UP IN A MESSIANIC CULT tells of being raised at Agapemone, a cult whose religion embraced religious and sexual scandal that absorbed her family as her distant relatives down to her grandfather took 'spiritual' brides. The author and her sisters own the Arc of the Covenant, a Victorian church in London: her story of being raised in the cult, her family, and the influences of its teachings makes for a gripping story.