Mr Wroe's Virgins Pb [Paperback]

Jane Rogers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 23, 1992

When God told prophet John Wroe to comfort himself with seven virgins, his Lancashire congregation gave him their daughters. This is the story of the nine months of their life together, until accusations of indecency, and the trial that follows, bring Wroe's household to a dramatic end.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There is something seductive about cults--a fascination, a temptation into the lurid and unknown. In her fifth novel, Mr. Wroe's Virgins, award-winning author Jane Rogers has delved into the history of one such sect. In northern England, amid the religious fervor of the 1830s, Mr. Wroe presents himself to the Christian Israelites as their prophet. Several accurate premonitions cement his authority, so when he informs his congregation that "the Lord has instructed me to take your number seven virgins for comfort and succour," they send their daughters without question. The story is told through four of the women, beginning with Leah, who sets out to win Prophet Wroe's favor and gain sole dominion over the household.

Once Leah arrives, her life as a "sister in God" consists of backbreaking domestic labor. While she fails to corner Wroe's earthly attentions, she is granted permission to bring her son secretly into the household. Focused both on wooing the Prophet and on her baby, she is unaware of the other "sisters": Hannah, the cynical one, may leave soon, and the pious Joanna suffers a wrenching sacrifice for the sake of her faith. As factions of the church grow skeptical of both Wroe's powers and his domestic situation, Leah suspects that the Prophet has taken another woman for his mistress. A sudden loss fuels her anger, and she begins to plot Wroe's exposure and ruin. When she makes her accusations public, no one is prepared for the truth.

Rogers's narratives are sparked with some exceptionally lyrical passages, as when Hannah describes the church music as "a sound so hauntingly plaintive a stone would melt to hear it." And Mr. Wroe's Virgins is particularly strong at evoking an era, weaving together the different social forces of the time into the context of this one uncommon household. --Joannie Kervran Stangeland --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

In 1830, as the end of the world approaches, the charismatic, hunchbacked prophet of a religious sect settled in Lancashire heeds the biblical injunction and chooses seven virgins "for comfort and succor." Basing her novel on the life of the real John Wroe, a leader of a group called the Christian Israelite church, Rogers (The Promised Land) crafts an impeccable narrative, interweaving the diverse mindsets of some of the chosen women and the prophet during nine months of complex interaction. Part morality tale, part history, packed with accurate details of early 19th-century life, the stories of Leah, Joanna, Hannah and Martha unfold as they cope with the hypocrisy, blind beliefs and idealism of the sexually threatening prophet. Three of the women have joined the sect out of sheer desperation, and Rogers superbly conveys the precarious economic situation for acolytes of this era. Leah, an unscrupulous street-smart beauty, is looking for security for herself and her hidden baby, and aims to marry Wroe. Hannah, a skeptical, independent-minded orphan whose father was active in political causes, has been donated to the prophet against her will by relatives dismissing their obligation to support her. Martha, grossly abused by her father, is scarcely able to talk, and acts more like a clumsy animal than a woman. Joanna alone truly has faith in the prophet. Told with humor, irony and a generosity that embraces even the sinister Wroe, this is a compelling story of astonishing depth, elucidating religious idealism, the beginnings of socialism and the ubiquitous position of women as unpaid laborers. Simple, exact prose catches the vernacular flavor of the period and the prismatic personalities of the characters as they lay themselves bare to the sins of the flesh, the tricks of religious pretense and society's stifling order. Rogers is a vivid and intelligent writer whose work deserves a wide audience here. (June) the U.K.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: Faber and Faber Limited (March 23, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571165281
• ISBN-13: 978-0571165285
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read!, November 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Mr. Wroe's Virgins (Paperback)

This is one of the best books I have read this year. It is intelligent and thoughtful yet full of dark humor. The character development remains interesting until the very end of the novel. I wish that my book group would have read this book -- I can imagine that it would have been an interesting and controversial discussion.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eerie and page-turning, October 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Mr. Wroe's Virgins (Paperback)

Wow. This author has an amazing ability to get inside of her characters heads- maybe closer than you really want to get. She writes from seven points of view- representing the seven so-called virgins who are taken into the prophet's household. There is lusty sex, mystery, and drama throughout this excellent book. I read it in two nights- couldn't put it down. My bookgroup is going to discuss it next month- one of the BEST book choices we've made.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A VERY PROPHETABLE READ..., June 21, 2002

By 

Larry L. Looney (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mr. Wroe's Virgins (Paperback)

Jane Roger's ISLAND impressed me so much that I began to look for some of her other works -- MR WROE'S VIRGINS is the first one I came across. It didn't disappoint. Rogers has done an amazing job retelling/reinventing the story of the 'real' John Wroe -- her prose and characterizations are excellent, and the technique of using multiple narrators is extremely effective and enlightening.

Told from the point of view of four women -- four of the 'virgins' taken into the home of Prophet John Wroe, 'for comfort and succor' -- but never from that of Wroe himself, Rogers' novel goes beyond simply telling a story. The voices of these four women are individual and distinct. The sections of the story they each relate overlap in time a bit, and their various points of view illuminate descrepancies in the way they view the events depicted here.

Leah is a beautiful, haughty, self-centered young woman -- she is sure in her own mind that she is the most beautiful and desirable of the seven chosen, and she is determined to play this to her own advantage. She sees her 'sisters' as competition, and she views their motives -- innocent though most of them may be -- with great suspicion, seeing and imagining things not quite as they actually are at times.

Hannah is an unbeliever, thrown in with this group of Christian Israelites, feeling much like a fish out of water. Rather than accepting Mr. Wroe's dire predictions of the imminent end of the world -- Judgement Day -- she instead sees the answer to humanity's woes through education, through working together for the common good. These beliefs lead her to working with the poor of the town, teaching them to read, attempting to raise their social and political consciousness, and getting involved in the birth of the trade union movement in England.

Joanna -- Saint Joanna, as she is called by most of the other women -- is completely devoted, in heart, body and soul, to God and to Mr. Wroe's movement. She views every single event in her life through scriptural interpretaion, bending to God's will every chance she gets. From the opposite end of the scale, her view is thus just as skewed as that of Leah.

Martha -- the fourth narrator -- comes to the house as a mute, obviously horribly beaten and abused by her father at home, who has seen Mr. Wroe's call for seven virgins to serve him as an easy way to rid himself of a daughter he doesn't want, a burden. Martha's narrative is, for me, the most striking in the novel. At first, it comes in fragments, little bursts of words, the most rudimentary images and feelings. As the novel progresses, Martha's thoughts and expression become more organized -- she is being taught speech and hymns by 'Saint Joanna', who evidently possesses the patience of Job -- and the horrors of her earlier life, which she sees as so completely separate that she thinks of it as happening to the 'other Martha', become clearer and clearer. The abuse and suffering she has endured is unbelievable and heartbreaking -- and it explains her temperament, which could at times be seen as epileptic or schizophrenic. This is an incredibly damaged young woman.

As the Prophet of his church, Mr. Wroe weilds immense power and influence. He hears instructions and illuminations directly from God, almost on a nightly basis -- even with a council of Elders to aid in governing the affairs of the church, Wroe's word is practically law. Living in a house with seven young women, it is inevitable that suspicions and accusations begin to mount -- the novel is set, after all, in 1830s England, a much more puritanical society that we enjoy today. Wroe himself is tempted by the presence of the women as well -- and this temptations, combined with his human frailty, lead to much trouble for him and his church.

Rogers skills in both narrating this tale -- and, again, the use of the four narrators is done to stunning effect -- share the spotlight here with her ability to convey the contradictions inherit in organized religion in general. When one person -- or even a group of persons -- holds such power and influence over their 'followers', there is bound to be trouble. The weight of the organization's purpose is too much for a leader to bear. When the people rely on a human leader to tell them how to follow the will of God -- rather than listening to their own hearts and finding their own path -- that leader's humanity will almost inevitably lead to disaster.

The novel is very 'heady' -- but at the same time very readable, being compelling and entertaining. It's a wonderful achievement. Knowing that Rogers wrote the script for the BBC's adaptation of the novel, I'd be very interested to see that as well.