At thirty, Kumiko Olson, a Japanese language teacher, immigrated to America with her American husband. With great ambition and optimism for her future, she landed in Melbourne, Florida. Her world didn’t exactly turn out as she had envisioned, being faced with one challenge after another. Because of her husband’s constant job changes, the couple drifted from place to place like duckweed. Turmoil reigned in her life, but the biggest upheaval was her divorce. With a rough road of many twists and turns, this is the story of how a shy Japanese girl became truly resilient and liberated.

She subtitles her book “Seven times down, eight times up.” For her, willpower is similar to the characteristic of the Daruma doll–a hollow round shape, weighed at the bottom, which will always return to an upright position when tilted over. This doll symbolizes the ability to have success, overcome adversity, and recover from misfortune.