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Not too long ago, a young man
in London was searching for something to do with his time. You see, this young man,
Danny, had quit his job at the BBC, and, consequently, he found that he had very little
to do—other than play video games and scratch. But one day things changed for Danny—he
went to a funeral in Switzerland, for a great-uncle that he barely knew.
Danny’s Uncle Gallus had been regarded as a bit of an eccentric to the
other members of his family. After returning from war, he had decided to gather a
hundred people together to live and work on his farm—as a sort of collective. But after
a week, only three people from his village had agreed to join, so Gallus gave
up.
Inspired by Gallus and his attempt to bring people together, Danny
decided to start a collective of his own—to get a hundred people to join him in honor of
Gallus. He placed a cryptic ad in a newspaper. “Join Me!” the ad said. All that was
required was a passport photo. And then a miracle happened—someone joined. In fact,
more people started joining, too—though no one knew exactly what they were joining.
As more people joined, Danny scrambled to find a purpose for his
ever-growing collective—all the while keeping it a secret from his girlfriend, Hanne, who
warned him that she’d leave him if he tried to take part in another one of his “stupid
boy-projects.” And as Danny got more and more caught up in his role as The Leader, more
people got caught up in Join Me, and, together, the randomly-collected band started
touching people’s lives.
Join Me is the true story of how some
normal, everyday Londoner accidentally started his own cult. The story is captivating,
as is Danny, who tells the story in his own voice, throwing in his own quirky British wit
to liven things up. While some parts are a bit slow and monotonous, the majority of the
book is unbelievably entertaining—and even inspiring at times. It’ll make you laugh, and
it’ll make you want to join.
Who knows…the next time I come across a photo
booth at the mall, I may just get my picture taken and join Danny, too.
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