There is an interview with Mariette Lindstein today in Hallandsposten, which is the local newpaper for her hometown area where she is now back living.
http://hallandsposten.se/nyheter/halmstad/1.4236274-mariette-lindstein-lyckades-fly-fran-sekt
Brief summary is that she joined the CoS in 1977 in Malmoe. At first she took courses, but when that became too expensive she joined staff. She remembers the early days as new and exciting. When she was invited to work in the US, she felt honored. But when she got to Gold, conditions were a lot harder, long working hours, no contact with the outside world, etc. She worked with David Miscavige. When, after a couple of years, she first saw him physically hit somebody, she decided that she had to get out of there.
(I don't know exactly why she still stayed for something like 20 years, it would be very interesting to hear a fuller version of the story.)
While at the base, she had made friends with her current husband Dan Koon. He managed to escape just before Christmas in 2003, when he was allowed outside to buy gifts. After his escape, security was beefed up and she figured that it would be hard to escape from the base, so she started to act like she was unstable, hoping they would transfer her to LA, which they did. A few months later, she managed to run off to a bus terminal. She called Dan's family, he had told her the phone number before he left and she had learnt it by heart. He came to pick her up, and for the first time in two decades she could talk freely. She could read whatever books she wanted, sleep as much as she wanted. Dan's family helped her adjust to the current world, how to dress, pay bills... Soon, they went to see her family in Sweden that she had not seen in 16 years. Her parents thought she was lost forever.
Then she proceeds to talk about her upcoming novel,
The cult on Foggy Island.
http://hallandsposten.se/nyheter/halmstad/1.4236279-boken-blev-ett-satt-att-bearbeta
After a few years, she started to have nightmares about her bad times in Scn. She thought about all the years she had lost and felt depressed. One day a friend said her story sounded like a thriller, and she sat down to write, pouring her feelings into it. Soon the nightmares stopped. (It's a fictional novel, first part of a trilogy, but she used a lot of her experiences.) When the book was finished, she had a few people test read it. Some thought it sounded a bit unreal, too extreme - but Mariette says that what she actually experienced was in many ways even worse. The book will be published on August 31st.
Her web page is here:
http://www.mlindstein.com/
Right now only in Swedish, but from what it says there she is planning to translate the books into English.
She is also planning to tour schools with a psychologist to inform about cults - the name of the psychologist is not given but I'm pretty sure it must be Hakan Jarva, former OT3 and OSA who after leaving decided to do something with his life :wink2: and studied to be a licenced psychologist. He has made a number of comments in media, written fact books about manipulation, and has been a popular guest in schools together with a stage magician, giving information and practical examples of how easily our minds can be swayed by someone who knows the tricks. (And I think Hakan is a nice guy.
)
To round this off, there should be a long interview with Mariette in tomorrow's sunday special in
Aftonbladet (our biggest newspaper). But you have to pay to read it online.
That's all from Sweden for today!
)
