When life imitates opera, what is a young Italian American girl to do? At the age of eleven, I lost my mother, Tosca, to cancer, and within two years, my father committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. My warm, extended Italian immigrant family began to unravel as greed and selfishness motivated the adults around me. A Heart Near Death is a memoir about how I survived the tragic events of my early childhood, which included the death of two parents, separation from my brothers, the robbery of my inheritance, and being sexually abused by my uncle. Outside readers have called A Heart Near Death plucky and evocative. Lyrical and raw, funny and poignant, the book celebrates courage, dignity, humor and endurance. Like the operas that sustained me throughout my life, it is a story I hope will uplift and inspire many others.