num_pages: 359
description: Before Lesley left her mother either in jest or premonition said: Don't get married and don't join a cult - words that would echo for more than a decade in a mind of a girl who became a woman whilst immersed in the snare of what is believed to be one of the most insidious and dangerous existing cults in America.It is 1983 and South Africa is churning in an Apartheid whirlpool. The wide-eyed South African teenage girl leaves the comfort and safety of home for America with just enough hurt excitement and naivety to leave her open to whatever the path conjures. Adrift in a new world and looking for redemption or respite Lesley has a chance meeting with the enchanting Sister Shoshanna on a square in New York City. So begins an epic journey that spans ten years and criss-crosses most of the USA.In The Raincoat People Lesley unpacks her decade long immersion in the Jim Roberts Group recounting the tale of a life extraordinary a violent rape a forced abortion the freegan and nomadic lifestyle an arranged marriage to a Brother three remarkable home births a quadruplet miscarriage harsh threats of losing her children and finally an escape and return to South Africa.Told largely through a series of letters between Lesley and her mother an intricate memoir emerges that takes readers into the devout and devastating world of one of Americas most insular and secretive cults.
language: English
title: The Raincoat People
publisher: Expand Your Mind