Blue-Eyed Outlaw:

My Search for the Truth in a Tight-Lipped Sicilian Family

Determined to untangle the closely-guarded secret of her husband’s adoption, a young wife sidesteps his tight-lipped Sicilian family to follow the clues until thirty years later, the truth is at her fingertips—and she must choose: honor his peace with the uncertainty or solve the mystery for his sake and for their adult children who carry their shamed-into-silence father’s guilt forward.

BLUE-EYED OUTLAW explores what happens in a family when withholding the truth hurts the person it intended to protect. This coming-of-age memoir examines the generational wounds of adoption, the search for personal identity, the uncovering of a hidden family history, a daughter’s profound grief. And an outsider’s take on the sometimes-comical quirks of Italian American culture: basement holidays, the sign of the horns, flocked wallpaper, three-day funerals, one-cheek kisses, slot machines, and food as a religion in this man-on-top, woman-in-the-kitchen family with too many Franks and Helens.