‘Genuinely,’ she says, leaning towards me for the first time, looking earnest, ‘the Universal Humanitarian Church is, like, the most progressive religion of all time.’
The Running Grave, Robert Galbraith
The Universal Humanitarian Church is a religious organisation which boasts celebrity followers, a charismatic leader and a growing membership, but dark rumours of abuse, brain-washing and manipulation swirl around it. Any public accusations are quashed by law firm Coolidge and Fairfax, but fear of something far darker and more terrifying than the law seems to keep ex-members quiet.
When rival detective agency Patterson Inc fails to retrieve his son, Will, from what he believes to be a cult, Sir Colin Edensor turns to Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott to investigate and hopefully expose the Universal Humanitarian Church. Given the careful legal guardianship of the church, the silence of former members, and the secrecy which surrounds their most important rituals, Strike and Robin know they need to send someone in. They can only find out what happens at the isolated farm where new recruits are invited for free spiritual retreats by going there in person.
Robin is certain she is the woman for the job and is confident she can convince the church she is rich, adrift Rowena Ellis, a woman with wealth but in need of spiritual guidance. Rowena is, the partners believe, exactly the sort of person the UHC should be eager to bring into the fold. Robin has worked successfully undercover in the past, but if she succeeds in being recruited by the UHC, she’ll have to maintain her cover twenty-four hours a day, under extreme pressure.
You can hear Robert Galbraith talking about some of the challenges Robin will face undercover here.
After attending some services at the UHC Temple in central London, Robin is invited to a week-long spiritual retreat at their base, Chapman Farm, in Norfolk. Her commitment to her work is clear, and she’s intelligent and resourceful, but can anyone resist the techniques the UHC is likely to deploy? She’ll be isolated in a place which already, we discover, holds deeply traumatic memories for Strike already. So, what do we know of the Universal Humanitarian Church, as Robin prepares to join them, and its key leaders? And how long must she stay to uncover the truth?
Jonathan Wace
‘I love you, Papa J!’
The Running Grave, Robert Galbraith
‘And I love you!’ said a smiling Wace, at which there was a further eruption of screams and applause.
Jonathan Wace, the founder and leader of the UHC arrived at Chapman Farm with his young daughter Abigail after the death by drowning of his first wife. The farm, the base of the Aylmerton community until its leaders, the Crowthers, were imprisoned for abuse in 1986, became the proving ground for Wace’s own particular synthesis of western and eastern philosophy and religion. While building up his following and belief system, Wace met and married Mazu, who had been a resident at the farm since its days under the Crowther brothers. Strike’s mother, Leda, was a member of the Aylmerton community for some months. Strike is, for once, deeply angry with Leda now he realises the dangers to which he and his sister, Lucy, were exposed while there.
Jonathan Wace is now a handsome, tall and fit-looking man in his mid-sixties with large, dark blue eyes and a thoroughly engaging smile, and is seen by his followers around the nearest thing to God on earth. His philosophy is a synthesis of various world religions and traditions, all of which he brings together in the idea of the ‘Blessed Divinity’ to whom he and his followers offer their prayers. His followers claim to study every Holy Book in the search for the oneness and wholeness of humanity, to create a progressive belief system which embraces the spiritual without any of the attendant evils of traditional religions. Wace’s charisma has attracted a number of celebrity adherents, including actress Noli Seymour, TV-wellness guru Dr Zhou and successful novelist Giles Harmon.
But then, as Strike remarks as he and Robin first discuss the case ‘‘I’m with Orwell. Some ideas are so stupid, only intellectuals believe them”
Nevertheless, Papa J’s following appears to be growing. There is a branch in America, and the church has bases in Glasgow and Birmingham as well as the Rupert Court temple in the middle of London and of course, Chapman Farm.
Mazu Wace
I used to have nightmares about Mazu when I was little, where she was peering in at me through keyholes or watching me from skylights.
The Running Grave, Robert Galbraith
Jonathan’s second wife, Mazu Wace, is referred to by members as Mama Mazu, and has a status in the UHC almost equal to Papa J’s. She spends most of her time on Chapman Farm, where she grew up, and, according to the notes left by ex-member Kevin Pirbright, she is a terrifying figure. He describes her as witchlike, with a pale face and long black hair, obsessed with controlling others. She names the children born within the church, and decides the punishment of members through her own particular use of I-Ching (to learn more about I-Ching, read our feature). She makes claims to Chinese heritage, though those who knew her as a child are sceptical.
Taio Wace
‘What would that involve?’ said Robin, every nerve protesting against the continuing pressure of Taio Wace’s hand on her back.
The Running Grave, Robert Galbraith
‘A week of your time,’ he said, gazing into her eyes. ‘At Chapman Farm. To explore things a little more deeply.’
Mazu and Jonathan’s son, who reminds Robin of an overfed rat, has his father’s large blue eyes and is a forceful speaker, but he doesn’t provoke the tears and laughter with his speeches the way his father does. It is Taio who invites Robin to the farm, saying she is a ‘receptive’ and the blond girl who has been chatting to her is confident Robin will go ‘pure spirit’ really fast.
Taio, Mazu, and Jonathan are all members of the Council of Principals who run the church, along with a handful of celebrities and a couple of loyal, long-term members.
The Prophets
UHC members are well aware that while all prophets are, theoretically, equal, one is far more equal than others. The Drowned Prophet has become central to the cult of the UHC, with her own rites and separate observances.
The Running Grave, Robert Galbraith
The Universal Humanitarian Church celebrates five prophets – five individuals who Wace has, since their deaths, raised to a saint-like status within the church. Rusty Anderson, a Vietnam veteran who may not have even joined the church, but lived on the farm as Jonathan was consolidating his ideas, was killed by a hit and run driver, and became eventually the Wounded Prophet. His day is celebrated on the nineteenth of March, the day Robin first visits the church’s outpost in central London as Rowena Ellis. Alexander Graves, a young member of the church who killed himself after being forcibly removed by his parents, is known as the Lost Prophet. He stated in his will he wished to be buried at the farm.
Two older members have also been elevated. Harold Coates was a struck-off doctor who’d been on the land since the Aylmerton Community days. Even though the church bans all medicines along with caffeine, sugar and alcohol, Coates was allowed to grow herbs and treat minor injuries. He became the Healer Prophet. The Golden Prophet was once Margaret Cathcart-Bryce, who joined the church in her seventies and was devoted to Wace. The widow of a wealthy businessman, she donated enough for extensive building and improvements at Chapman Farm, then left the entirety of her estate to the church’s Council of Principals.
The Drowned Prophet, however, is the most important figure in the church other than Papa J himself. The spiritually advanced child of Jonathan and Mazu, Daiyu Wace died by drowning off the Norfolk Coast in 1995 at seven years old, and the other prophets seem to have been created to keep her company. The church members pray to her directly – Will Edensor’s letters to his parents all end with ‘the Drowned Prophet Will Bless All Those Who Worship her’ – and members point to her as proof of the existence of life after death. The Drowned Prophet materialises regularly in front of church members as she moves between spiritual and earthly planes. She is the only prophet who can bless members, but she also curses those who stray.
Daiyu seems to haunt ex-members, particularly if they speak out against the church, causing real terror. Kevin Pirbright, shortly before his death, says he feels her spirit all around him, and tells his friends that if anything happens to him, it’ll be her who does it.
‘And what if the job lasts weeks?’ said Strike.
The Running Grave, Robert Galbraith
‘Then it lasts weeks,’ said Robin, with a slight shrug.
When Robin attends a service in Rupert Street, just round the corner from the Agency’s office, she has the chance to see Papa J outline his beliefs in person. The Universal Humanitarian Church presents itself as a charitable as well as spiritual organisation, providing respite for young carers, and appears generous and inclusive. The feel-good service, introduced by David Bowie’s We Can be Heroes, is a rousing message of universal love and respect. Before the service though, Robin looks up to see the mural overhead, a representation of the five prophets. The image of Daiyu shows her as smaller and slighter than the four others, and even though she is depicted as airborne, she trails waves in her wake. Whether because of a trick of the light or not, the narrow eyes show no irises, but appear to be entirely black.
