Il Padrino

Since young adulthood, Jack has wondered why none of his maternal relatives had ever returned to their ancestral Italian homeland after immigrating to the United States in the late nineteenth century. Now, at thirty-five, he is embarking on a long-anticipated trip to Italy in search of answers, with no idea of the life-changing surprises or perils that await him.

In search of his family history, he visits the small village of Campagna, where a chance meeting leads to an unexpected romance. He accepts the help of his host, Maria Rosato, in escorting him around the town, and the two are drawn together by an instant attraction. Guided by a letter from a great-uncle dated 1925, they search out information on the family's progenitor, Don Gaetano Catalano. By a circuitous route that takes them through Naples and Florence, Jack and Maria eventually discover portraits of Jack's ancestors from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries-men referred to as Il Padrino. But another, more modern connection may put them both in danger.

In this novel, a man sets out to research his family's background in the Italian countryside and finds love and danger along the way.