and then on the other hand, of course, we have jorge garcia who lost, you know, 14 members of his family in the sinking of the tugboat in 1994. he blames himself for what happened, suffers from grief, anger, still in cuba becomes committed to basically spending his life telling the story of the loss and then leaves for miami in '99 with his wife and daughter. there are many other important characters in the book, but cath a ya and jorge represent for me kind of the diaspora and their intersection in very powerful ways. so i wonder if you and miriam as well can tell us more about this arc of hope and despair and what it tells us about cuba. >> yeah. i'll take it, and then i want you to jump up. >> connie really does that. and her life story, as it turns out -- i didn't know her before i began the book -- but just to will the e the people who are watching now this is born in -- [inaudible] of 1956. within three weeks of fidel and the 81 arriving on the southern coast of cuba to begin the belligerent stage of the revolution that ended up in january of 1959 with him talking over the whole is