My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru

(Paperback, Main)

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In 1981 Tim Guest was taken by his mother to a commune in a small village in Suffolk. It was modelled on the teachings of the famous Indian 'guru', Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, who preached an eclectic doctrine of Eastern mysticism, chaotic therapy and sexual freedom. Both were given Sanskrit names, dressed entirely in orange and instructed to completely abandon their former identities.

Tim - or Yogesh, as he was now known - spent the rest of his childhood in Bhagwan's various communes in England, Oregon, Pune and Cologne. While his mother meditated, chanted and ran therapy groups, Yogesh lived a life of unsupervised freedom, occasionally catching glimpses of the strange behaviour of the adults around him. In 1985 the movement collapsed after Bhagwan's arrest and Yogesh was once again Tim, about to start life at a secondary school in North London, alone with the secret of his extraordinary childhood.

In his first book, now in a new edition, Guest describes the other-worldly experience of growing up in an environment of unsupervised freedom and often disturbing adult behaviour.

Reviews

A sweet book...[creating] a shocking but affectionate image of the Orange people * Time Out *
Guest writes both touchingly and evocatively...an intriguing read * Evening Standard *
A book to make you thankful for your boring childhood * Marie-Claire *
A must-read, an extraordinary, harrowing, sometimes hilarious account * The Herald *
Funny, gently ironic, closely observed, poignant and moving. Guest makes an astonishingly mature debut * Spectator *
Guest's story seems to encapsulate the essential weirdness, not only of his childhood, but also of the period...compelling and poignant * Times Literary Supplement *
Hilarious and heartbreaking, it says much for the human spirit...a beautiful written account * Daily Mail *
Tim's Guest extraordinary account of his childhood is a survivor's tale, poignant, funny and wise * Sunday Times *

Author Bio

Tim Guest spent his childhood moving between Rajneeshi communes in England, India, Germany and the United States, before leaving aged eleven. He was the author of two acclaimed books, My Life in Orange and Second Lives. His journalism was published in the Observer, Guardian and Telegraph. He died in 2009.