Rita Laima has written a unique memoir that explores the experiences of the Latvian exile community during the Soviet era and the situation of Latvians in their Soviet-occupied homeland in the 1980s, as well as during the first decade of independence beginning in 1991. The author's strengths are her frankness and ability to draw conclusions. Laima describes how the post-World War II Latvian refugee's mentality developed outside of Latvia, and how a young woman with the Free World's mindset dealt with Soviet socialism and post-communist reality in Latvia. The author's escapades are supplemented with historical background notes, which enable the reader to grasp the context of events of her time in Latvia (1982–1999). Laima had the courage and strength to confront her own inherited notions of the fatherland with Latvia's real situation in the 1980s and 1990s. This memoir is not a nostalgic longing for the past but rather a truthful and sometimes harsh story about life in all its complexity and rich nuances, gleaned from the author's personal experience.

Rita Laima is a published writer, translator, and children's book illustrator. Born in the United States to the children of refugees who settled in New Jersey, Laima was raised biculturally, speaking Latvian at home. After studying art at Parsons School of Design in New York City, she traveled to Latvia in 1982 and lived there for 17 years. During that time, she experienced life under Soviet communism, the Soviet Union's efforts to russify her ancestral country, Latvia's National Awakening, and its long-awaited independence from the USSR in 1991. Rita Laima currently lives in the Washington, DC area.