Introduction

Instant USA TODAY bestseller

The story of an Italian immigrant family in the Wild West whose crazy, brave, and magical women overcame impossible odds to become bootleggers, brides—and Mafia bosses.

This based-on-real-events novel tells the story of the family that possibly inspired The Godfather—except this story doesn’t begin with a small robbery in New York. Instead, The Descendant begins with a big, blooming love in the tiny town of Lucca Sicula, Sicily. Told through the lives of the strong Italian women who fought against impossible odds, this historically inspired narrative introduces a whole cast of fascinating characters.

Mariano Barbera was a strong, powerfully built man who saw tiny fourteen-year-old Maria Ragusa at her family’s store and was struck dumb. He had to have her, and she wanted him just as badly. Their life together leads the couple and their children from earthquake-ravaged Sicily to bondage in the mines of Colorado, to cattle ranching in Pueblo, to Mafia life on the mean streets of Red Hook, Brooklyn.

This sweeping family saga centers around the Barberas’ ten children from their three cowboy gangster sons, Peter, Joe, and Austin to their seven wildly different cowgirl daughters. First there’s little Flo—born on the night of the wolves and whose own alpha wolf never left her side—as she navigates life alongside her best pal and younger sister, Clara. Then there’s Flo’s many older sisters: Callie, who loved and lost; Angie, who loved and left; gorgeous Laura, who loved the wrong man; grouchy but brilliant Helen, who loved many times; and tough-as-nails wrangler Michelina, who loved a woman more than the husband she was forced to marry.

The Descendant is not just the story of how the mountain Mafia began in the United States. This is the story of a family of scrappy, tough, smart folks who refused to let all the power in the world keep them down.

Editorial Review

No Editorial Review Currently Available

Excerpt

Oh No Little Flo!

Pueblo

September 12, 1923

Flo walked into her mother’s room and saw Blue at the foot of the cradle. She hadn’t been night hunting but protecting the baby. Maria opened a can of condensed milk, which was how the motherless infants got their milk back then.

“Good girl, Blue,” Flo said, kissing baby Charlotte and her mother. Then she smacked the side of her leg for Blue, to get up and follow. They wandered out to the front porch to see what adventures they could get up to.

Someone had tossed what looked like a rolled-up newspaper onto the front steps. Flo was forbidden by Maria to look at newspapers since Robert Roberts Jr. had written the awful story with the photo of shot-up Peter, so of course, Flo being Flo, she picked it right up. She wanted to get a sneak peek before Maria caught her. It was barely light yet, so she lit the porch lantern.

When she saw the photo and read the story about Charlie, she kept herself from screaming and waking everyone up. She thought this was even worse than the one Roberts Jr. had written about Peter. In fact, this was the worst thing ever to be in a newspaper.

It was, she said to herself, time to take things into her own hands. Well, her hands and Blue’s paws that is. That child, she was the only hell her mama ever raised.

She pulled on her button-top shoes and headed into the woods.

“Blue, it’s time to do what I said I’d do. Whaddaya think?”

Blue just looked at her. Since they had their own secret way of communicating, Flo took that as a yes.

“Blue, find what we hid.” Her wolf led her right to the exact spot where she’d hidden the thing she was forbidden to touch. It was what she’d snuck out of the barn that day Helen had shooed her out of the house.

Flo then went to the corral looking for Black Bill’s brother, Silas, before the men headed out.

Silas always had a soft spot for Flo and her wolf. Figured she knew more about the natural world than most folks twice her age. He’d even sneak her penny candy he bought whenever he went to town. She loved him. She could trust him.

So, when she asked him for Roberts Jr.’s address, saying she wanted to write him a letter telling him that he was being mean to her family and it wasn’t nice, he thought that was about the sweetest thing he’d ever heard.

But Silas told her he had a better idea. “Well, Little Flo,” he said, “I think it would be a might bit better if you write that letter to the editor of the newspaper, instead of that no-account reporter man.”

“But why,” she wanted to know.

“That way they’ll print it.”

“Oh no, I can’t do that. Mama said I’m not allowed to do anything that will get our name in the newspaper.”

He thought it was damned sweet of the child to want to write to that sumnabitch and tell him to leave her family alone. It nearly brought tears to his eyes.

“I promise I won’t tell nobody, Silas.”

“OK, then—it’s our secret. You know that log house? The one half a mile from here with the cottonwood out front?” She nodded her head. “That’s where he lives.”

“Thanks, Silas,” she said innocent as can be. Then, “Oh, he doesn’t have a dog or a wife, does he?”

Silas laughed. “Little lady, even a starving dawg wouldn’t live with that sidewinder if he was offerin’ it a side of beef.”

Good, she thought.

Later that day, when Robert Roberts Jr. didn’t report into work, his editor, Franklin Moss, rode over to his house. He was mad as a hornet that Roberts had missed his deadline.

He was ready to give him hell, but when he got to the house, Roberts Jr. was already in hell. Somehow, he’d got his leg caught in a small animal trap that somebody must have dropped by mistake right in front of his gate.

Moss managed to get Roberts Jr. into his car, with the reporter still attached to the trap, screaming and crying, and drove him to Doc Dawson’s. The doctor had to get help getting the damned thing off Roberts Jr.’s leg, not only because it was on tight but also because the patient was carrying on like a little girl, so it was hard to hold him still.

Roberts Jr. should have just held still. All that carrying on caused the rusty metal trap to cut further into his leg, which caused a terrible infection. It took a month to heal, but that reporter with the gift of gab was left with a mouth that didn’t work anymore. Lockjaw they call it.

Too bad he hated the Barberas, or he could have called on Maria and her famous moldy bread cure. That would have fixed him up right quick so he could have kept on asking questions that were none of his business.

Nobody ever did find out who was so stupid and careless enough to drop an animal trap right in front of somebody’s gate. Those things cost good money. view abbreviated excerpt only...

Discussion Questions

From the author - added by Pauline:

1. The novel opens with Firenze’s almost mythical birth and the presence of the wolf. How does this scene set the tone for the rest of the story? What do wolves symbolize throughout the book?

2. Linda Stasi describes her book as "Yellowstone" meets "The Godfather." In what ways does the story reflect elements of both the Western family saga and organized crime epic? Which genre does it feel closest to for you?

3. In "The Descendant," Linda Stasi blends family history, folklore, and fiction. Where do you think the line most powerfully blurs between truth and storytelling? Does knowing it’s based on the author's own family and actual events change how you read it?

4. Bootlegging in the story emerges not just as criminal activity but as a means of survival. How does the novel challenge traditional “good vs. bad” narratives?

5. Much of the book examines what the author calls “unconscious acceptable bigotry” toward Italian Americans. Where did you see these stereotypes reinforced in culture, and where did this book dismantle them?

6. The women (Flo, Clara, Callie, Angie, Laura, Helen, and Mickey) drive much of the emotional heart of the story. Which woman did you find most compelling, and why?

7. Discuss Maria’s life as a wife, mother of 16 children, immigrant, and survivor. What does the novel seem to say about motherhood?

8. Mariano is portrayed as both a victim of trauma and perpetrator of abuse. What did you think of him as a character? Did your feelings toward him shift while reading the book?

9. The Ludlow Massacre and coal mining bondage are central historical moments in the novel. What did you learn about American labor history that you didn’t know before, and how did it shape your understanding of the family’s choices?

10. If Linda Stasi’s ancestors (who the story was based on) could read this book, how do you think they would react?

Weblinks

»	Author's website
»	Follow the author on Instagram
»	Watch the book trailer
»	People Magazine article about Linda Stasi

Book Club Recommendations

Recommended to book clubs by 0 of 0 members.

Member Reviews

There are no user reviews at this time.
Rate this book