Meet "Olga." You won't forget her.

Olga was the ninth and last of Angel and Maria Zervoulakos' children and the only girl. He was an officer in the Greek navy, a courtier to the royal household, then a refugee to America where he enlisted in the U.S. Cavalry and was sent to Manila to fight insurgents. He then became the real-life Filipino reincarnation of Sam Spade who played poker with Eisenhower, helped capture spies and adored the opera.

Olga was his "Little Princess" who dodged bombs and bullets and ultimately triumphed over the Japanese occupation of Manila in World War II. She was the architect of the plan that saved her family when the Japanese destroyed the city. She had been a child of wealth who, at age 13, was suddenly impoverished and shoved into the night at the point of a Japanese bayonet.

All that she had known was gone, except for devotion to a family filled with heroes.

She surrendered her childhood, but claimed a dignity, grace and zest for life. She grew up in war. She was stronger than it was.

Hers is a grand coming of age story told against the backdrop of incomprehensible hardship. It's a thriller and even more a personal, spiritual revelation. She survived starvation, a brutal military establishment and the murder of 100,000 of her fellow Manilans in February 1945. She saw it, felt it, conquered it.

Olga is a wonderful little girl, and then a spectacular woman, whom readers will come to love.

David Rutter, the author, spent 40 years as a journalist and wrote millions of words.

None mattered more to him than the story of "Olga."

David Lynn Rutter spent four decades as an award-winning reporter, columnist, editor and publisher for six newspapers in five states. Rutter was born in Danville, Kentucky, grew up in Indiana and, as did his fellow Kentuckian, Abraham Lincoln, followed destiny to Illinois where he now lives in Evanston, Il., with his wife, Naomi.