"I celebrated my sixth birthday in the black, dark hold of a ship, crammed with retching, praying, miserable people. After 13 days, the ship stopped and my father brought me up on deck.
‘Chico,’ he said, ‘look at that.’
And I saw the statue of a great lady, taller than a church steeple.
‘That's the greatest light since the star of Bethlehem,’ my father …
