Mount Olive Psychologist, Author of Psychological Thrillers, Pens Memoir of Grandmother’s Extraordinary Life

One of the most profound experiences in Dr. Michael Canzoniero’s early life was watching first-hand as many of his childhood friends descended into drug and alcohol addiction in his native Bronx. Wanting to do anything he could to help, he noticed a community priest doing the work to push these individuals into programs and grew inspired to follow suit. At first he thought the priesthood was for him, but figured that going into psychology would be a better idea. He earned his Ph.D from St. John’s University in Queens. He worked for decades as a school psychologist, and is now retired.

Over the length of a full career, if there is one thing a psychologist lacks, it is naivety. Such is one way to describe what is now the blossoming new career for Canzoniero, that of writer. He was inspired by some of his many cases over his long career as a school psychologist to turn to fiction writing—specifically, thriller writing—as a way of drawing attention to some of the problems that arise naturally out of certain cases of inter-familial dysfunction. 

“You certainly see a lot of interesting cases,” says Canzoniero by phone. “One of the things I learned as a psychologist is that there are roles that a child will play when they grow up in abusive homes—such as the role of the hero child. I began to write my early books in such a way that they would teach some of these issues.”

 Most recently, fresh off four novels, he turned to the task of writing a memoir of the life of his grandmother, who went from living in abject poverty in southern Italy to, as he describes it, “abundance in America.” The title of the memoir is The Evil Eye, The Pure Heart, and it is available on Amazon. 

“About thirty years ago, we were having a cousin’s reunion,” says Canzoniero, recalling the origins of the memoir. “I decided it would be a nice thing to do to put these historical accounts on paper for my cousins. I heard the stories of what they went through to get to this country, and for the reunion I put together a sort of family history.”

Canzoniero’s cousins absolutely loved it. A few of them worked as teachers, and incorporated the historical articles into their own lesson plans to share with their students during classes having to do with immigration. 

“Years later,” he adds, “after one of my cousins lost the book I presented her at the cousin’s reunion, she asked if I had another copy of the manuscript.”

Canzoniero says he refused to give his cousin a copy of that manuscript, which he felt was too flimsy, so he set out to rewrite the whole thing, but to do so completely, for a wider audience. 

At the time of writing, Canzoniero already had the full background story. His mother would tell him stories about her mother, specifically that she came over from the southern Italian town of Pomarico, at the age of 16, alone. She herself was fleeing a dysfunctional family situation in which she could not get along with her step-mother, and her father thought it better if she left. When she arrived in New York, she went to work in local factories and sweat shops. Here, she met her future husband—Canzoniero’s grandfather, who happened to be from a neighboring village to hers in southern Italy—and married him some time later. 

Asked if we stand to learn one thing in particular from his grandmother, Canzoniero explains that there is, in all of us, a courage that our ancestors had. 

“It’s important for people to not be so quick to go to pessimism in life, in handling crises. We have a deep, deep well of courage within us, and it’s always a good idea to focus more on that than on whatever is pushing us into depression.” 

Canzoniero adds that we can be a welcoming country to all immigrants, but that implicit within that welcome should be an expectation that those immigrants respect our rule of law. 

“Especially in light of the southern border,” he says, “I think that there should be a mutual understanding of the law. People come to America because it is a welcoming country. In my grandparents’ day there was respect for authority. Returning to that should be something to aim for.”

Currently, Dr. Canzoniero is working on another memoir, this one on his grandfather’s life. It will be called My Papa: An Homage to My Courageous Italian Grandfather. 

For more information on Dr. Michael Canzoniero and his books, including The Evil Eye, The Pure Heart, please visit his page on Amazon, or e-mail him: [email protected].