The Family Audiobook By Naomi Krupitsky cover art

The Family

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The Family

By: Naomi Krupitsky
Narrated by: Marin Ireland
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The Instant New York Times Best Seller

A Today Show Read with Jenna Book Club pick

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 20th-century Brooklyn itself.

Two daughters. Two families. One inescapable fate.

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, wives, mothers, and leaders. Their hearts expand in tandem with Red Hook and Brooklyn around them, 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.

©2021 Naomi Krupitsky (P)2021 Penguin Audio Family Life Fiction Friendship Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Women's Fiction Heartfelt

Critic reviews

A TODAY Show Read With Jenna Book Club Pick

A Barnes & Noble Discover Pick

A Book of the Month Pick

One of Parade’s Best Fall Books of 2021

One of Cosmopolitan’s Best Historical Fiction of 2021

One of Good Morning America’s 15 Books to Curl Up with This November

One of PopSugar’s Best New Books of November 2021

One of Bustle’s Best Books of November 2021

One of Real Simple’s Best Books of 2021

One of Katie Couric Media’s Best Books About Female Friendship

“Vivid, authentic and filled with the unexpected… Once you read this novel of blood and love, promises and betrayal, you may never look at family in quite the same way again.” —Washington Post

“Krupitsky’s immersive debut is an intoxicating hybrid of The Sopranos and the novels of Elena Ferrante…The writing is downright dazzling….” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Mario Puzo meets Elena Ferrante in Krupitsky’s dynamite debut novel...Fans of Adriana Trigiani and Lynda Cohen Loigman will inhale this tense, engrossing novel about family ties, women’s friendships, and the treacherous complications of loyalty.” —Booklist, starred review
Vivid Writing • Rich Character Development • Immersive Historical Setting • Compelling Friendship Portrayal
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3 stars for this historical fiction that takes place in Brooklyn, NY, in the 1920s and is about two little girls who grow up next door to each other and are more like sisters than friends. I loved the sense of place and time and felt like the author did a fantastic job of transporting the reader to the Sunday dinner table eating homemade pasta in this middleclass Catholic Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn. You can read the synopsis on the cover of the book, so I won't retell that. But the book really tells the story about the relationship between the girls as they grow up in the "Family" (Italian mafia) and how their paths diverge and then come together again. It was good. I think I wanted a little something more from the character development as some of the themes (mafia hits, murdered fathers, coming of age in the 20s, and postpartum depression) were pretty heavy. I would recommend it, but the historical aspects outweigh the fiction in this one.

Italian Mafia and Brooklyn in the 1920s

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Absolutely phenomenal! This book weaves the most beautiful love/adventure story of family and life and relationships. I put this into my top 10 favorite books.

Superb!

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Family endures the unthinkable. Friendships are held for life. Post Brooklyn and red hook. I truly enjoyed this read.

Great story.

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The description of the families involved in this story makes you feel as if you were part of that family.

A story of family loyalty and the cost of that loyalty.

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I gave this story a 4.5 instead of a 5 just because it started out a little slow and I wasn’t sure I’d finish it. But I’m so glad I did ! It’s a great story and it’s a timeline of two best friends from childhood to adulthood told from each part of view.

4.5

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Well done, kept me intrigued. Such vivid descriptions and loved how th lives of the two women ebbed and flowed.

Great Book

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This book was extremely well written with wonderful character development. Gives you a window into what family means in organized crime. It follows a true friendship that stands the test of time

Excellent Book with great Narration

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The word use creates amazing visualizations. the narration did a great job at character development.

Amazing

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It started a little slow for me but got better as the girls became older. I hate cliffhangers but overall it was such a good book!

Slow start

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Large cast of characters to keep straight in the first chapters , but Sophia and Antonia remain central. The female perspective is well represented in this overwhelmingly male dominated culture.

Tough choices.

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