At night, silence descends on the most violent city in the world. A curfew slows the bombings and murders. By day, a huddle of pacifist missionaries asks, Should we flee the city? Or wait out the war with our pantry of rice and beans?

In clear, fluid storytelling, Dorothy draws you into events, often amusing, often frightening, with her risk-loving husband and their four young children in Medellin, Colombia, the centre of Pablo Escobar's infamous drug cartel.

She fills her memoir with intriguing characters: an odious quack doctor, a terrifying mafioso interrupting their coffeetime, a pig that climbs stairs, a grieving mother bravely ignoring tradition, and the church women ingeniously transforming their resources from not-enough to just-right. In Medellín's tropical Andean valley, the family's beloved jeep carries them to adventures up and down the steep roads of the poor barrios.

Through tears, laughter, and many faux pas, Dorothy is steadied by the voice that whispers, It's okay, Señora. All will be well.