An abused woman is the greatest composer who ever lived. The first of three volumes of the life and works of Carmen Angelina Coletti, a prodigy who was taken out of school when she was 12 years old and isolated from the world. Her simple, honest voice remains the picture of a young and reclusive country wife.

Abused since early childhood, her music is her refuge, with a gift for composition so complete that she is likely the world’s first female great composer, some believing her to be the most gifted composer of all time. Discovered by musicologist Ida Hirschman Brooks, who lived with the composer before she died, these writings lift the mystery of Carmen Coletti and her music from the shadows, revealing the tragic life of a woman who was raised in isolation, by a mother driven to madness by grief.