There are some stories that beg to be told. Shania Twain's rags-to-riches rise, a Cinderella fable for the twenty-first century, is one of them. Raised dirt-poor in the mining towns of Northern Ontario - sometimes food parcels from the Mattagami reservation were all that kept her family from starving - Shania Twain knew that singing was her only escape from poverty.
Her start in life made her tough but determined - abandoned by her natural father and adopted by an Ojibwa Indian, at eight she was performing to drunks in after-hours bars. After tragedy struck at the age of twenty-two, she found herself orphaned and responsible for her younger sister and two teenage half-brothers, so she sang show tunes in a resort hotel to see them through high school.
A record contract, a rocky start in Nashville and marriage to Mutt Lange, the world's most successful and reclusive record producer, eventually led to Shania Twain's extraordinary success: she is now worth over $100 million. Hits like 'Man! I Feel Like A Woman' and 'That Don't Impress Me Much' ensured that her third album, 'Come On Over', is the bestselling album in country music history and the bestselling album ever by a female solo artist.
During his research Robin Eggar travelled to Canada and Nashville, and talked to dozens of close friends, family and business associates - as well as Shania herself - to create an insightful, rounded portrait of the woman who, despite phenomenal success, remains a mystery to her millions of fans - until now.