After her mother unexpectedly leaves her with her uncle's family, members of a fanatical Christian cult, Kirby tries to learn what has become of her mother and struggles to cope with the repressiveness of her new surroundings and to maintain her own identity.After her mother leaves her with her uncle's family, members of a Christian cult, Kirby tries to learn what has become of her mother and struggles to cope with the repressiveness of her surroundings and to maintain her own identity.

When she turns 14, Rebecca will find out who she is to marry. All the girls in her strict religious sect must be married just after their 16th birthdays. Her twin sister Rachel desperately wants to marry the boy she’s given her heart to. All Rebecca wants is to have a husband who is kind. But both girls know the choice is not theirs to make. But what will the future hold for Rebecca? Is there a dark side to the rules that have kept her safe? Can the way ahead be so simple when the community is driven by secrets and hidden desires? This powerful psychological thriller, set in a cult community, is a sequel to the much-loved bestseller I am not Esther. Once again, award-winning Fleur Beale keeps readers on the edge of their seats with her gripping, tautly written new novel I am Rebecca.

The gripping sequel to the award-winning and bestselling YA novels I Am Not Esther and I am Rebecca. Being Magdalene revisits the Pilgrim family and its closed religious community, The Children of the Faith. Four years have passed since Rebecca ran away. The community simmers with tension and rumours of an approaching split, and life has become terrifying for Rebecca's remaining siblings as Elder Stephen seizes any chance to take revenge on them. Twelve-year-old Magdalene lives in fear that her strong-willed little sister, Zillah, will be his next target. The girls have run out of people who can protect them. To Zillah their path is clear but Magdalene is torn. How can she cause more hurt and shame for her parents? But, equally, how can she face a life with no freedom to be herself? And another question scares her most of all. Without the elders' suffocating rules that tell her how to live, who would Magdalene be?