Two daughters. Two families. One inescapable fate. A captivating debut novel about the tangled fates of two best friends and daughters of the Italian mafia, and a coming-of-age story of twentieth-century Brooklyn itself.
Sofia Colicchio is a free spirit, loud and untamed. Antonia Russo is thoughtful, ever observing the world around her. Best friends since birth, they live in the shadow of their fathers’ unspoken community: the Family. Sunday dinners gather them each week to feast, discuss business, and renew the intoxicating bond borne of blood and love.
But the disappearance of Antonia’s father drives a whisper-thin wedge between the girls as they grow into women. As they push against the boundaries of society’s expectations and fight to preserve their complex but life-sustaining friendship, one fateful night their loyalty to each other and the Family will be tested. Only one of them can pull the trigger before it’s too late.
From The Godfather to The Sopranos, popular culture is captivated by stories of gangsters and mafia — the intrigue, the violence and the families that inhabit this world. American author Naomi Krupitsky’s debut novel, The Family, is a razor-sharp portrayal of two young Italian-American women and their families’ involvement in the mafia of Brooklyn, New York, in the early to mid-20th century. Blending historical fiction and family drama with a gangster thriller, The Family packs a punch.
Written in five parts that span the years 1928 to 1948, The Family is a sweeping portrait of neighbours and best friends Sofia and Antonia, and their families. The girls might have grown up surrounded by mobsters, but having learnt not to ask too many questions, they form a deep love and loyalty to each other and their families. Krupitsky beautifully weaves their innocent experiences of childhood and adolescence, first loves, motherhood and more into the narrative. Meanwhile, the world is capitulating around them, from the streets of Brooklyn to the horrifying arrival of the Second World War in Europe.
Fans of Elena Ferrante and Maggie O’Farrell will devour The Family. Krupitsky is making her mark as a stunning new voice in fiction, with this captivating story of the lengths one would go for family, friends and duty.
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