This manuscript sat in a box in my garage for almost ten years, until one day I brought it out again and took a second look at it. I almost tossed it when I first wrote it, but when I read it a decade later I couldn't believe my eyes! This novel had flowed from my heart and soul onto paper. I thought, this is really good!

When I tried to find my original it was on 3X5 floppy disks that were password protected. Guess what? I couldn't remember the password! I had to scan each page of the hard coopy on my scanner, convert it to editable text with a special program, then get it in workable files on my computer. Painstaking and time-consuming to say the least! It took weeks.

When I had rescued the final draft I polished it over and over again, then gave it an ending that was unforgettable. I tried to shorten it but that was impossible. It just kept wanting to reveal more to me about the characters and the times. An amazing experience and one that left me with a feeling of awe and that I had left my footprint for the old ones who came from Russia, the Pastor that died there, and future generations. I felt I had written a masterpiece that I could never exceed. It is definitely my Pièce de résistance and a portrait of humanity that holds true in any lifetime. The characters when I created them sprung to life as I wrote it and the events unfolded in ways I had never dreamed possible. I think this book crosses many genres.