Something Somebody Stole

by Ray Connolly

From Amazon.com:
"The Children of God" were one of the most radical groups of Jesus Freaks spawned during the sixties. They later morphed into a headline grabbing cult known as "The Family" known for strange mixture of evangelism, doomsday prophecies and unusual sexual practices taught by their founder, David Berg. This book is the story of one person's journey into the movement, several decades of life within the movement, and the struggle to find a path to recovery in the decades since. The author spent over 20 years in the group (much of it in leadership positions), living in over 20 countries, while parenting 17 children with 2 remarkable women. Through personal reflection and reference to a great deal of research into thought reform and spiritual abuse, the author offers insight into the world of cults, and sheds light on the issues encountered upon leaving a totalistic group. There is a particular effort made to examine issues of personal responsibility and spiritual recovery. One reader comments "informative and entertaining, refreshing in its honesty... not what one comes to expect from a former cult member, and ultimately a message of hope in the midst of difficulty and tragedy. Rich spiritual wisdom available regardless of whether readers have been involved in a cult or not."

236 pages, Paperback

First published November 12, 2011

About the author

Ray Connolly grew up in Lancashire, England. After graduating from the London School of Economics he began a career in journalism, and wrote a weekly interview column for the London Evening Standard, concentrating mainly on popular culture and music. Since then he has written for the Sunday Times, The Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Observer and the Daily Mail. Many of his interviews with members of the Beatles have been republished in his eBook, The Ray Connolly Beatles Archive.
His first novel, A Girl Who Came To Stay, was published in 1973. Several other novels followed, including Newsdeath, Sunday Morning, Shadows On A Wall and Kill For Love.
Working with producer David Puttnam he wrote the original screenplays for the films That’ll Be the Day and Stardust, and wrote and directed the feature length documentary James Dean: The First American Teenager.
He has also written for television, most notably the series Lytton’s Diary and Perfect Scoundrels, and the TV films Forever Young and Defrosting The Fridge, and worked with Sir George Martin on the documentary trilogy about music The Rhythm of Life.
For BBC radio he wrote Lost Fortnight, about Raymond Chandler in Hollywood, and Unimaginable, which concerned the twenty four hours around the death of John Lennon, whom he was due to see on the day the former Beatle was murdered.
In 2010 he adapted one strand of his novel Love Out Of Season as the radio play God Bless Our Love, while his novella about the Beatles, Sorry, Boys, You Failed The Audition, will be broadcast by BBC Radio 4 in 2013.
In 2011 he published his Christmas short story Let Nothing You Dismay as an eBook on Amazon. Others will soon follow.
Currently working on a screenplay for a movie about Dusty Springfield, he is married and lives in London.