The Unlikely Occultist by Isobel Blackthorn @rararesources @IBlackthorn

Book Description:

Librarian Heather Brown discovers the fascinating life of Alice Bailey – a long forgotten occultist.

Back in 1931, Alice is preparing to give a speech at a Swiss summer school. But how can she stave the tide of hatred and greed set to bring the world to its knees? 

Soon after, Alice is put on Hitler’s blacklist. What she doesn’t realize is the enormity of her influence to the world, and the real enemies who are much closer than she thinks.

A dynamic and complex figure, Alice Bailey’s reach was huge. She was influential among people and organizations of global power, especially the United Nations, and is widely regarded as the Mother of the New Age.

Yet today she is maligned by fundamentalist Christians, Theosophists, Jews, academics and above all, by conspiracy theorists. Are any of these groups justified in rejecting the unlikely occultist?

My Thoughts:

This isn’t the normal type of book I would go for but after reading other reviews, as well as the blurb, I have to say my intrigue was well and truly piqued.

Now Alice Bailey is someone I had never heard of before picking up this book. Whilst this is a biography of sorts and is based on real life, the author does use her own imagination in the day to day life of Alice so that we get more of a sense of the type of person she was so it reads like more of a story in parts.

The story alternates between present day and the past. In present day we meet Heather who is a librarian and becomes quite fascinated with Alice and goes out of her way to find out more about her. She also has things going on in her own life so we get a mix of her personal life as well as her discovering more and more about Alice

Past, obviously focuses on Alice, starting off when we meet her as a child and then following her as she grows up and her life into the work she gets behind. I did enjoy getting to know her better and what her life was like. I have to admit the work she was involved in was slightly above me and probably didn’t quite hold the appeal that it does for Heather in the book but never the less, it was still an interesting read of which I have a lot more knowledge now about Alice and what she stood up for than I did before picking the book up.

The Unlikely Occultist is a solid and intriguing read. I think if you like history and finding out more about iconic figures, then this is definitely one you should try. You can tell the author has done a lot of research and has done well to put as much of that into this book to keep the reader interested.

My thanks to Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own and not biased in anyway.

The Unlikely Occultist is available to purchase from Amazon. (Please note that link used is an affiliate link).

Author Bio –

Isobel Blackthorn is a prolific novelist of unique and engaging fiction. She writes across a range of genres, including psychological thrillers, gripping mysteries, captivating travel fiction and hilarious dark satire. Isobel holds a PhD in Western Esotericism for her ground-breaking study of the texts of Theosophist Alice A. Bailey. Her engagement with Alice Bailey’s life and works has culminated in the biographical novel, The Unlikely Occultist. Social Media Links – http://isobelblackthorn.com https://www.facebook.com/Lovesick.Isobel.Blackthorn/ https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5768657.Isobel_Blackthorn https://twitter.com/IBlackthorn https://www.instagram.com/isobelblackthorn/