"IHAVE NOT ALWAYS DIRECTED MY OWN FATE in this world," writes Violet Rutherford, "exercised free will, some would say-from childhood on. Three times in my life I have been thrown into the spiritual path to meet my soul mate, when neither of us even knew the other was on the planet. Three times, living and moving quickly, I was struck by a hurricane. More than ten years ago, I sat down to write about my life with Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. At that time, I had no idea how it would be received, or whether it would even be published. But because this story of personal transformation, of radical and heart-opening love, urged itself out of me, I felt a deep longing to put into words the wisdom and experiences that have changed my life forever. This memoir of a fascinating family heritage is the result, and of course only my personal opinion. I have done my best to faithfully examine the shape of an extraordinary relationship born in the crucible of family turmoil and the daily interferences of life situations that could not be avoided. And I have chronicled as well the deception that touched my soul so deeply it literally walked away from him. The result is a love story that ended abruptly at the beginning of the Millennium, the saga of two souls born under the same astrological sign who never looked back. But it was through him that I met my real self, my whole self, my authentic self, the shadow that has lingered after the storm.