The Godfather Returns: A Novel

THE MISSING YEARS FROM THE GREATEST CRIME SAGA OF ALL TIMEThirtyfive years ago, Mario Puzos great American tale, The Godfather, was published, and popular culture was indelibly changed. Now, in The Godfather Returns, acclaimed novelist Mark Winegardner continues the storythe years not covered in Puzos bestselling book or in Francis Ford Coppolas classic films.It is 1955. Michael Corleone has won a bloody victory in the war among New Yorks crime families. Now he wants to consolidate his power, save his marriage, and take his family into legitimate businesses. To do so, he must confront his most dangerous adversary yet, Nick Geraci, a former boxer who worked his way through law school as a Corleone street enforcer, and who is every bit as deadly and cunning as Michael. Their personal cold war will run from 1955 to 1962, exerting immense influence on the lives of Americas most powerful criminals and their loved ones, includingTom Hagen, the Corleone Familys lawyer and consigliere, who embarks on a political career in Nevada while trying to protect his brother;Francesca Corleone, daughter of Michaels late brother Sonny, who is suddenly learning her familys true history and faces a difficult choice;Don Louie Russo, head of the Chicago mob, who plays dumb but has wily ambitions for muscling in on the Corleones territory;Peter Clemenza, the stalwart Corleone underboss, who knows more Family secrets than almost anyone;Ambassador M. Corbett Shea, a former Prohibitionera bootlegger and business ally of the Corleones, who wants to get his son elected to the presidencyand needs some help from his old friends;Johnny Fontane, the worlds greatest saloon singer, who ascends to new heights as a recording artist, cozying up to Washingtons power elite and maintaining a precarious relationship with notorious underworld figures;Kay Adams Corleone, who finally discovers the truth about her husband, Michaeland must decide what it means for their marriage and their children andFredo Corleone, whose death has never been fully explained until now, and whose betrayal of the Family was part of a larger and more sinister chain of events.Sweeping from New York and Washington to Las Vegas and Cuba, The Godfather Returns is the spellbinding story of Americas criminal underworld at midcentury and its intersection with the political, legal, and entertainment empires. Mark Winegardner brings an original voice and vision to Mario Puzos mythic characters while creating several equally unforgettable characters of his own. The Godfather Returns stands on its own as a triumphin a tale about what we love, yearn for, and sometimes have reason to fear . . . family.