Welcome to the Eric McTaxis show with your host, Eric Metaxus.

Hey there, folks, it's the Eric Mtaxas show.

As you know on this program, one of the things we like to do is talk to people about their lives, especially if those lives are particularly interesting with an emphasis on redemptive. I have a guest today, Barbara Quato, who's written a book called From Mafia Princess to God's Princess.

I'm just thrilled to have you here, Barbara. Welcome.

I'm thrilled to be here. Thank you.

You lean a little forward because I want to make sure we catch every syllable.

Your story, I don't know where to start. You had a very, very tough life,

maximum craziness. Where should we start? Where did you grow up? What city did you grow up in?

I grew up in El Paso, Texas, and for the most part, and a border town.

My father is Irish.

My mother is Mexican, so there was a lot of drinking and a lot of temper.

Seven years old, I was born into an alcoholic family, and it really was not, it was terrible to grow up that way.

And there was a lot of distractions, there was a lot of chaos, so that when I was seven years old, I was hurt by a neighbor.

I was sexually abused by a neighbor.

And it happened.

You were seven.

I was seven. I was seven.

I was playing on the sidewalk, writing words that I'd heard my father use frequently.

And while other kids were drawing hopscotch sketches, I was, I had figured out these four,

there were only four letters long, so.

Very easy to chalk.

Yeah. And so a neighbor came up and started asking me about it, and then he invited me to his home,

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