The Heart of a Woman is a story of perseverance. It takes you from the fateful life changing day when Carole had a cardiac arrest and a 'widow maker' heart attack at age seventy, through the stages of recovery and complications that occurred. It emphasizes how stress has become a major factor in women having heart attacks.

Carole had experienced years of stress during her thirty-eight-year marriage to a Marine pilot who suffered from extreme PTSD. She stood strong and helped him through his rough psychological episodes. Frequent moves, business failures, medical emergencies, and the worst; toiling in their citrus grove and driving a tractor for a decade, all put huge amounts of stress on her. Episodes that describe saving her daughter's life, stopping a potential home break-in, near fatal hemorrhaging after childbirth, and many more, will have you crying with her, and cheering her on.

Never giving up, always persevering, doing whatever it took to keep her marriage, family and livelihood intact, prepared Carole for the long recovery from her coronary crisis. Then, realizing she was capable of meeting any goal, she eventually had both of her painful arthritic hips replaced. She took charge of her life again.

Her cardiologist urged her to write a book to inspire other heart attack victims to work hard to recover their heart health and general health. The book ends with GETTING YOUR HEART HEALTHY AND KEEPING YOUR HEART HEALTH, A chapter on eating a plant based or Mediterranean diet, exercising, keeping a healthy weight, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, all which reduces life-threatening stress.