THE QUEEN OF STEEPLECHASE PARK is the absolutely, positively, practically, almost-true story of infamous burlesque queen and magic meatball maker Belladonna Marie Donato. 

The Queen of Steeplechase Park is the almost-true story of infamous burlesque queen and magic meatball maker Belladonna Marie Donato. Pregnant at fifteen after gleefully losing her virginity, Bella is robbed of her baby by a pack of nuns, and her embittered papa has her sterilized. With the help of a newfound family of queer-centric outcasts and a top-secret meatball recipe, Bella embarks on a riotous quest through Depression-era Coney Island to find her lost child, herself, and maybe even true love. It all leads Bella back to the scene of her original sin where she boldly faces matters of life and death, questions of forgiveness, and a holy mess only the healing properties of great Italian cooking can fix.

"David Ciminello has written a great big rollercoaster of a novel. . . . Read this book! Hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time." 

—Fannie Flagg, author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

"Open your mouth and ready your heart because Belladonna Marie from The Queen of Steeplechase Park is about to serve you some unforgettable tales of love and loss, with a side of meatballs. David Ciminello has re-animated Depression era Coney Island with such vivid and dazzling detail that I wanted to laugh, cry, eat a hot dog, and go for a swim all at once. A phenomenal story of a Burlesque queen searching for her lost baby in the glitz, ooze, and hum of sideshows from Brighton to Gravesend. I couldn't put it down." 

—Lidia Yuknavitch, author of Thrust