You, a novel based on her own experiences with the school and an organisation she was brought up in; she did not name it for legal reasons, but other sources identified it as the School of Economic Science. She described the organisation as "a self-styled, extremely strict, truth-seeking, spiritual society that demanded an extraordinary amount from its members." In an interview she told Radio New Zealand that 75% to 85% of her book is an account of real events from her own childhood. These included teachers marrying former pupils, and mental and physical abuse that led her to contemplate suicide, another girl to attempt suicide, and a third to successfully carry out suicide. "Now it's a very different place, I'm always told," she said. Teachings and practices Teaching at SES is done in small groups, in the form of a dialogue between tutor and students following the Socratic tradition, rather than establishing a set course with a curriculum, textbooks and examinations. All of the SES tutors are advanced students; none is paid. Courses include Philosophy, Economics, Art, Vedic Mathematics and Practical Philosophy in Business. SES teaches a variety of 10 week courses, beginning each January, May and September. Practical philosophy SES teaches a philosophy drawn from Eastern and Western traditions. Differing from academic philosophy courses, "SES is closer to the ancients’ conception of a philosophy school in which students are taught one particular philosophy or ethical way of life, which they commit to in an effort to completely transform themselves." An underlying idea is that the great teachings of the world all point to the same central truths, and that wisdom is the key to a better life. Teaching is based on the precepts of Advaita Vedanta as translated, taped and transcribed from interviews in India conducted by MacLaren with Swami Shantanand Saraswati (d.1997), a colleague of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, from 1961 - 1996. Advaita means literally "not two"; vedanta refers to the knowledge underlying the creation. Together these are said to explain the essential unity of everything in creation and the source from which it arises. SES considers Advaita to be "the clearest and most systematic expression we have found of the common philosophy that lies at the heart of many of the world’s great religions and philosophies". Non-dual philosophy arises from ancient vedic scriptures expounded by Shankara. This teaching, along with the expansion of it in relation to