Alba Castillo was always the rebel in her close-knit Spanish family. She left her home village on the outskirts of Madrid, traveling to London to learn English, and eventually moved to the United States. In Florida, she discovered a lush world whose beauty hid painful relationships with two men: the first led her into alcoholism and addiction, and the second pathologically abused her and her three children for many years. In the midst of her struggles, Alba was diagnosed with breast cancer, underwent multiple surgeries as she fought for her life, and worked constantly to keep her children in the family she had constructed for them. Her story is a heartbreaking one of failure and strength through faith, of the cruelty of intimacy and the kindness of friends – in other words, a narrative of real life. Readers will see parts of themselves in Alba during her dark days, but also hopes for a better way of living in her triumph and gained wisdom.