The book is a vivid account of a life lived at the margins of society in a country where class and access to quality of life would intersect with social determinants of health and dreams for a better future. The author’s compelling description of life in the favela is a breathtaking rendition of a life lived on the edge of a sharp knife where hunger, abuse, disregard, lack of opportunities and infrastructure, of sanitation and food would trigger multiple defense mechanisms of survival: A samba of survival.

How to outlive what one cannot control? Where is the light of the North Star to guide, like a focused laser beam, the spiritual strength to celebrate life and believe in the power of our inner strength? Maria Hogan’s biography is a source of inspiration in which answers to these and more questions are found.