Can you tell us a little bit about your book?

Sure.

I'm so happy to be here.

Lia's Dice is set in 1970s Brazil during the height of the military dictatorship, and it's about identical twins, Dolores and Nita, who grow up in a little village in rural Brazil.

In one carnival when they're about seven years old, uh, Nita has a fit and falls over, and she is never quite the same.

They don't really know exactly what's wrong with her, but Dolores becomes her protector.

Until one day, Dolores wakes up and finds her sister gone.

[laughs]

the first decade of your life, with not a single memory.

I know.

I mean, honestly, I went back to the village with a friend of mine, and we looked, and we were looking for the house I grew up in, and I kept saying, is this it? And we stopped some people, and we said, do you remember a family...

The father was gringo.

They had twins.

One of them was sick.

And finally, I found a woman who knew and worked in the paper mill.

But has there been something that has really stood out to you where somebody came, you know, this has changed my life?