The author’s family escaped from Nazi tyranny, sought refuge in the mountains, then fled from the Czechs and the Russians. After a year in England and France, she won a Fulbright scholarship and graduated from Smith College. She and her husband settled on a Caribbean sugar plantation and later spent months at sea. In San Francisco, she became editor of the German newspaper, obtained further degrees and taught at Golden Gate University; later becoming the editor of the worldwide risk management publication, PRM. In spare moments she learned to hang-glide and windsurf, and skied with the National Ski Patrol.