Local author’s new book is a tribute to her mother’s life

St. Charles author Faly Colaizzi has a new book out. “Unsinkable Princess,” published Sept. 17, is based on her family’s dramatic history and is Colaizzi’s most personal story so far.

Colaizzi grew up in Chicago and lives just outside of St. Charles. “Unsinkable Princess” is her third book after “Haunted Nights at Drumheller Castle: A St. Charles Tall Tale” (2010) and “Haunted Nights at Drumheller Castle: Ethereal Quandary: A St. Charles Tall Tale” (2014).

Colaizzi works in sales for a restoration company and said she found her passion for writing when she was 40 years old. Her first two books were based on Dunham Castle on Dunham Road in Wayne and she said she hasn’t put down a pen since writing them.

While Colaizzi’s first two books were fantasy, her latest is a memoir that tells the true story of her mother’s life and struggles with an abusive relationship with Colaizzi’s father.

“Unsinkable Princess” exposes her father’s hunger for power and her mother’s battles with manipulation, infidelity and emotional abuse, leading to her rise as the “unsinkable princess.”

The main character of the book, Rachel Baumann, is based on Colaizzi’s mother, Rafiella Faly Hart, who is 86 years old. It details her upbringing surrounded by fame and royalty and her downward spiral into a controlling and abusive marriage.

The story begins with her mother’s early life as a socialite in Spain, where she was crowned Miss Galicia and Miss Benidorm, dated royalty, bullfighters and movie stars, all facilitated by Colaizzi’s grandparents who were descended from the Borgia family.

Colaizzi said the story takes a turn when her mother marries her father, who turns out to be a violent, narcissistic sociopath and takes control of her life.

The book also details parts of Colaizzi’s and her sister’s lives, which she said were difficult to share but felt was important to put the truth on the page.

“I very colorfully describe my feelings, the good, the bad and the ugly. I don’t really hold back,” Colaizzi said. “The truth needed to come out, so the story is really, truly incredible.”

Colaizzi said she decided to write the book in 2019. She said growing up, her mother always would say she wanted to write a book about her life, so after Colaizzi finished her first two books, she decided to tell her mother’s story.

“This was building in me for some time,” Colaizzi said. “This was very difficult to write. ... When you really put your heart out there, you can’t cut corners. I didn’t want to paint myself as a perfect person. I wanted to show real stuff that happened here.”

Colaizzi said the writing process took four and a half years and included a lot of interviews with her mother. Colaizzi’s father died in 2018 and she said his passing was part of what prompted her to write the story as he probably would have taken her to court over the book.

Colaizzi said that although she had written two books before, she had never written something so personal and it required a great deal of vulnerability.

“People are going to judge you,” Colaizzi said. “People are going to talk about this and maybe have the reaction ‘I can’t believe she would write something like this about her family,’ but it’s such an incredible story that I had to put all of that aside and just write the tale.”

Colaizzi said when her younger sister was reading the book last summer, she called her in tears, shocked and almost inconsolable. She said because her sister was a few years younger, she didn’t know all of these things were happening to her at the time.

“It was a very painful book to produce, but it needed to get out,” Colaizzi said.

Colaizzi said while writing the book she came to the realization that a person can go through terrible, heinous things in their life and still survive and be a functional part of society if you put your mind to it and seek help. She said people who have read the book can’t believe her family survived what they went through.

Colaizzi’s mother and sister were at the launch event Sept. 23 at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles. Also at the event was Colaizzi’s editor, Joy Stocke. Colaizzi said Stocke is a great person to meet for someone trying to write their own book.

Colaizzi said she received a great deal of support from the St. Charles Women’s Club, of which she is a member, the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce and Rich and Ron Onesti with the Arcada Theatre.

To order Colaizzi’s new book, visit unsinkableprincess.com.