“Isobel Blackthorn"s insightful biographical novel The Unlikely Occultist evokes a rich immediacy to the life of Alice A. Bailey and her contemporaries as they forge "New Age" thinking, in light of perceiving themselves in a new epoch where humans face unprecedented challenges. The novel offers the reader a glimpse into the little known and secretive world of Alice. A. Bailey and fellow contributors to Western Esotericism as they vie for power and influence. In so doing, it provides an important contribution to re-telling received and accepted accounts of historical figures and events. Isobel Blackthorn deftly raises for consideration an alternate historical interpretation of esoteric lineage.
In writing this biographical novel, it is wonderful to see how Isobel has brought the depth of scholarship applied to her doctoral thesis The Texts of Alice A. Bailey: An Inquiry into the Role of Esotericism in Transforming Consciousness, to the imaginative creation of this novel.”
Lesley Kuhn
Author of Adventures in Complexity for Organisations Near the Edge of Chaos, Adjunct Fellow Western Sydney University.
Aksara