Blurb: "Charismatic, driven and self-righteous Neville Cooper set up his own brand of Christian utopia on earth: a reclusive community on the West Coast of New Zealand. For the 400 inhabitants [also known as Cooperites] of Gloriavale, his word is law - despite his 1995 conviction for sexual abuse. Phil Cooper, as headstrong as his father, had to escape. But Phil's wife Sandy was bound to the will of Neville and his brand of eternal salvation. And so began the monumental tug-of-war between father and son: a son who wanted to give his children a chance in the world".

Fleur Beale has undertaken an extraordinary journey working with Phil Cooper and his son Israel to tell the story of this New Zealand cult and give others an insight into how they work. Extremely disturbing, this is a book that should be widely read. ( )

I got this book out because I like Fleur Beale, and because I'm interested in the Cooperites (I mean, a cult? In New Zealand? Wowsers). As far as I know, this is the only book written about them. This isn't really a book about the Gloriavale Community, however, but a family who left. I personally didn't find them that interesting - the book's hero, Phil Cooper really irritated me. I mean, he took his 37 children (or so it felt like) out of the supportive Hutterite community in which they settled, to live in relative poverty in Australia... because he had to "prove that he could make it on his own", ie because he had daddy issues. Ugh, spare me. AND WHY DID HE HAVE TO SHOOT THE DOG? Anyway. The stuff that actually dealt with the community was interesting, and this might be worth a look if you're interested in how cults affect families, but I got bored with the Coopers pretty quickly. ( )