To those who found Ayn Rand's "Atlas shrugged" a powerful voice raised in defense of the individual, this book continues the theme. It proclaims the same philosophy, and its theme is the right of the individual to the pursuit of his own happiness. It portrays the impact of the Russian Revolution on three people who demand the right to live their own lives. It tells of a girl's passionate love, held like a fortress against the viciousness, cruelty, and oppression of a totalitarian state. Of this book, Ayn Rand said: " ... it is as near to an autobiography as I will ever write. The plot is invented, the background is not. I was born in Russia, I was educated under the Soviets; I have seen the conditions of existence that I describe. The specific events of Kira's life were not mine; her ideas, her convictions, her values were and are."