ANN ARBOR, MI -- (Marketwire) -- 01/31/13 -- Daniel Milstein, founder of Gold Star Mortgage Financial Group and best-selling author of "The ABC of Sales," launches his new memoir, "17 Cents and a Dream," http://tinyurl.com/bb4v4we, Feb. 3.

In a nod to the hunger he endured as a young U.S. immigrant, he's lowering the price of his Amazon e-book from $9.99 to 99 cents from Feb. 3-10 and donating all proceeds to charities fighting childhood hunger here and in his native Ukraine.

"It's hard to believe that anyone in golden America can be hungry, but that's the reality," says Milstein, who recalls many days as a teenager when bananas were his only food.

His story includes a contemporary account of frightening Soviet oppression following the Chernobyl nuclear plant explosion in 1986. His family lived nearby in Kiev but the government told no one what was happening.

Eventually, Milstein's beloved grandfather, a doctor, was ordered to tend victims at Chernobyl. That, writes Milstein, was a death sentence.

"Between the repressive government and the rampant anti-Semitism, my parents decided there was no future for their sons there," Milstein says.

So the family sought U.S. asylum, leaving with one suitcase and $75 each, per Soviet rule. Daniel also carried illegal riches -- 17 cents given to him by a friend to mail a letter.

What came next was abject poverty. Milstein's parents spoke no English and could find only temporary work. When Milstein landed a custodial job at McDonalds, he saw opportunity.

Relying on determination and work ethic, he eventually became the No. 1 mortgage originator in the country and CEO of an award-winning company.

"Daniel has a very gentle way of telling us of his life and troubles... without complaining or going on about how unfair some of those events have been," writes Amazon reviewer Oleg Medvedkov. "Instead, we see how a very disadvantaged kid used his determination to have a better life for himself and his family."

About Daniel Milstein

Daniel Milstein is CEO of Gold Star Mortgage Financial Group, www.goldstarfinancial.com, named a Top Workplace in Michigan for four years. He has been recognized as the nation's No. 1 loan officer. He is the author of "The ABC of Sales," the No. 1 sales book on Amazon.com in 2012. Milstein holds a bachelor's in Business Management and honorary doctorate from Cleary University in Ann Arbor, Mich.

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