Growing up in the heart of London's immigrant Italian community, Michael Volpe always felt disconnected from the UK, the country of his birth. He felt different to his friends, had alternative cultural experiences, and never truly felt he belonged – an unease that has been exacerbated by Brexit for many immigrant families living in the UK. Exploring his colourful, rich and often dramatic life in London and summers spent in southern Italy among his large extended family, Do I Bark Like a Dog? considers the roots of Volpe's identity. Delving into family secrets and lies, he discovers how extraordinary events filtered through time to propel his unlikely but successful career in opera. Evocatively written and featuring circus stars, fascists and faked deaths, Do I Bark Like a Dog? is a deeply moving testimony to Volpe's mother and her family, and an extraordinary journey into the heart of a life that has left an indelible mark on the world of opera.

"'Fact blurs with well-worn family fictions and self-deceptions to create a heightened everyday, as prodigal and richly, grubbily human as the verismo operas Volpe has championed on stage.'" - Spectator

"'When we say we “feel" English or Italian, we describe an identification with a kind of quiddity, and what Volpe wants is to distil that shimmering quantity into something tangible – to hold the Italian moonbeam in his hands.’" - TLS