The Father's House

The Father's House is the debut novel by former barrister and Cardiff-based author Larche Davies.

It tells the story of Lucy, who, at 14, has been born into and raised in a secretive and sinister religious cult.

The aim of the cult, which is controlled and led by a shadowy figure who insists on being referred to as the Magnifico, is to take over the world.

Families do not exist in the cult, children are raised in communes by men who are dubbed "father."

For some reason Lucy and another child, a boy called Paul, are raised not in one of the communes but in a house that is split into flats, under the control of a strict "aunt" called Sarah, who is no relation to either child. They live in the ground floor flat with Sarah, whilst the Father lives upstairs. There is a mystery tenant who occupies the second floor of the house, which is owned by the Father.

All Lucy knows are the prayer meetings of the sect and her attendance of the special school operated by the Magnifico with the aim of training them to become able to insinuate themselves into the outside world and to infiltrate important and influential positions within society.

Either that or they are doomed to work endlessly as skivvies for the sect, or to be nothing boot breeders to create babies for the Holy Cause of the Magnifico.

But Something happens to Lucy. She is subjected to cruel humiliation during one school assembly, and this one, thoughtless act of cruel folly begins the destruction of her faith and trust in the religion she has been raised in and as her faith begins to collapse, through two of her school friends, she learns some of the secrets of the sect.

She then resolves to leave the sect before her 16th birthday, when she will be married off to one of the sect fathers in the name of the Magnifico, or disposed of as being "unsuitable to further the Holy Cause."

But how can Lucy escape? Who can she trust? Who should she trust?

But fate intervenes one day when enemies of the Father invade his house and she has no option other than to flee for her life.

But still the sect would not let her and Paul be. It still attempted to control or to destroy what it could not control.

This is a very compelling psychological thriller that gives an accurate look into how a cult works, how it controls people even above and beyond whatever real power it might possess.

It is published by Mastador at £9.99.

It is to be hoped that this will be the first of many more novels by Larche Davies.

It is, of course, available via the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, powered by Amazon., on the right hand side of this site.