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Whit

Iain Banks

1995455 pagesabout 7–10 hours
1995
first published
  • 1995Little, Brown Book Group Limited · ENGISBN 9780316877046
  • 1995Little, Brown · 455 pages · ENGISBN 9780316914369
  • 1996Little, Brown Book Group Limited · ENGISBN 9780351314636
  • 1996Little, Brown Book Group Limited · ENGISBN 9780351317842
  • 1996Abacus · 455 pages · ENGISBN 9780349107684
  • 2008Little, Brown Book Group Limited · 464 pages · ENGISBN 9780748109975
  • 1999ArgoISBN 9781858497778
  • 2001Little, Brown Book Group · ENGISBN 9780349139173

Isis Whit is no ordinary teenager. An innocent in the ways of the world, an ingenue when it comes to pop and fashion, she does however rejoice in the exalted status of Elect of God of the Luskentyrian Sect, a small but committed religious cult based near Stirling. A month before their four-yearly Festival of Love, during which members indulge vigorously in acts of carnal abandon, the Luskentyrians are thrown into crisis when their Guest of Honour renounces her faith and refuses to attend. Isis' standing in the Community, coupled with the fact that the apostate is her cousin Morag, swiftly marks her out as the person to venture out among the Unsaved and bring the fallen one back to the fold But her mission through the spiritual barrenness of Nineties Britain - with its 'herbal cigarettes', compact discs and neo-facist thugs - is soon made even more treacherous. It appears that not only has Morag embraced the ways of the Unsaved with spectacular abandon, but for some reason she seems to be actively avoiding Isis, whose own hallowed status among the brethren undergoes a radical about-turn as her pillar of faith slowly crumbles from within.

How it reads

Character focusSingle lead
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