The Family

What is a family? Mario Puzo first answered that question, unforgettably, in his landmark bestseller The Godfather; with the creation of the Corleones he forever redefined the concept of blood loyalty. Now, thirty years later, Puzo enriches us all with his ultimate vision of the subject, in a masterpiece that crowns his remarkable career: the story of the greatest crime family in Italian history – the Borgias. In The Family, this singular novelist transports his readers back to fifteenth-century Rome and reveals the extravagance and intrigue of the Vatican as surely as he once revealed the secrets of the Mafia. At the story’s centre is Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI, a man whose lustful appetites for power, luxury and women were matched only by his consuming love of family. Surrounding him are his extraordinary children: the simple, unloved Jofre; the irascible, heartless Juan; the beautiful, strong-willed Lucrezia; and the passionate warrior Cesare, Machiavellli’s friend and inspiration. Their intermingled stories constitute a symphony of human emotion and behaviour, from pride to romance to jealousy to betrayal and murderous rage. And their time, place, and characters are recaptured in all their earthy, human grandeur, with the unerring insight and compassion that were Mario Puzo’s great gifts.