The Family

The Family

Summary

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From the legendary author of THE GODFATHER comes a novel of the original Italian crime family

Fifteenth-century Italy. The Renaissance is in full swing, heralding a new golden age for Europe. But where there is gold – and power – there are those who are willing to do anything to get their hands on them.

Enter the Borgias. Headed by Rodrigo Borgia, better known as Pope Alexander VI, this tight-knit family is fighting to keep its iron grip on Italy – but theirs is a lethal game, and the cost of failure is surely death.

Scheming and plotting for their own ends are his children: Giovanni, the much-favoured golden boy; his younger brother Cesare, jealous and vicious; and Lucrezia, cunning, calculating and passionate. The Borgias face immense opposition from all quarters of Italy, but their deadliest foes may be far closer to home.
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A tale of brutality and betrayal that crowns Mario Puzo's remarkable career
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'
We are a family,' Alexander told his children. 'And the loyalty of the family must come before everything and everyone else. We must learn from each other, protect each other, and be bound first and foremost to each other. For if we honour that commitment, we will never be vanquished but if we falter in that loyalty, we will all be condemned...'

Reviews

  • Keeps readers turning pages all the way to an explosive showdown
    Daily Mail

About the author

Mario Puzo

Mario Puzo was born in New York and, following military service in World War II, attended New York's New School for Social Research and Columbia University. His best-selling novel The Godfather was preceded by two critically acclaimed novels, The Dark Arena (1955) and The Fortunate Pilgrim (1965). In 1978 he published Fools Die, followed by The Sicilian (1984), The Fourth K (1991), and the second instalment in his Mafia trilogy, The Last Don (1996), which became an international bestseller. Mario Puzo also wrote many screenplays, including Earthquake, Superman, and all three Godfather films, for which he received two Academy Awards. He died in July 1999 at his home in Long Island, New York, at the age of seventy-eight.
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