--- product_id: 5677592 title: "The Family Corleone" price: "FREE" currency: GBP in_stock: false reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/5677592-the-family-corleone store_origin: GB region: United Kingdom --- # Deep dive into Corleone legacy Meticulous research & storytelling Authentic 1930s historical detail The Family Corleone **Price:** FREE **Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock ## Summary > πŸ“– Unlock the untold Corleone saga β€” because every family has secrets worth knowing. ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Family Corleone - **How much does it cost?** FREE with free shipping - **Is it available?** Currently out of stock - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.uk](https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/5677592-the-family-corleone) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - β€’ **Rich Character Evolution:** Explore the origins and growth of legendary characters like Vito, Sonny, and Luca Brasi in vivid narrative. - β€’ **Glossary of Italian Slang:** Enhances cultural immersion with dozens of italicized Italian phrases and slang throughout the story. - β€’ **Authentic Period Atmosphere:** Detailed era-specific elements like radio shows and NYC streets transport you straight to 1930s New York. - β€’ **Immersive Godfather Prequel:** Bridges the iconic gap between Godfather II flashbacks and Godfather I, enriching your saga knowledge. - β€’ **Critically Acclaimed & Loved:** 4.4-star rating from over 2,200 readers proves it’s a must-have for serious Godfather fans. ## Overview The Family Corleone is a meticulously researched prequel novel that fills the narrative gap between The Godfather II and The Godfather I, offering rich historical context and deep character backstories. Praised for its authentic 1930s setting and detailed storytelling, it’s a compelling read for die-hard fans eager to explore the origins of the legendary Corleone family. ## Description An exhilarating and profound novel of tradition and violence and of loyalty and betrayal, The Family Corleone will appeal to the legions of fans who can never get enough of The Godfather . New York, 1933: The city and the nation are in the depths of the Great Depression. The crime families of New York have prospered in this time, but with the coming end of Prohibition, a battle is looming that will determine which organizations will rise and which will face a violent end. For Vito Corleone, nothing is more important that his family's future. While his youngest children, Michael, Fredo, and Connie, are in school, unaware of their father's true occupation, and his adopted son Tom Hagen is a college student, he worries most about Sonny, his eldest child. Vito pushes Sonny to be a businessman, but Sonny-17 years-old, impatient and reckless-wants something else: To follow in his father's footsteps and become a part of the real family business. Review: A fine read well deserving of appreciation for bridging a gap. - I think the author did a fine job stitching together the period between where the Godfather 2 leaves us in the flashback years segment to where the Godfather 1 begins. I appreciated his attention to detail with somewhat trivial elements in regard to such things as radio programs playing in the background and roads being traveled in that era, it shows to me that he makes the effort to research even small things to get his story as accurate as possible. To be fair I thought some portions of the story were a bit over-emphasized such as Sonny's relationships with is mistress and with his fiancΓ©e to be, but that certainly took nothing away from the Corleone Family story line, which I found to be excellent at giving the reader insight as to how things came to be. Falco paints a picture for us of how every character evolved to become who we see them as in the Godfather 1. Vito, Tessio, Clemenza, Tom, Sonny, the heads of the other families.... even Solazzo makes an appearance. I thought some of the other reviews were unfair in calling out this author as no Puzo. Falco is just telling the reader a story. A story of how he sees it: And he succeeds in getting that story told in a clear fashion. Of course he is no Puzo. It's so difficult to be Puzo, even Puzo couldn't be Puzo for the Godfather 3. Review: Best of the post-Puzo efforts! - As a big fan of "The Godfather" trilogy of movies, as well as the Mario Puzo original novel, I was hopeful that "Family Corleone" by Ed Falco was going to bring something interesting and fresh to the story. After being disappointed with other post-Puzo attempts at the story of the Corleone's, I have to say that Falco's novel did the characters and the saga proud. "The Family Corleone" is set in the early 1930's, as the Corleone Family jockeys for position and power in New York City's underworld. We see Vito Corleone in his prime as his looks to expand his criminal empire. Facing danger from a powerful rival and his allies, the Don bides his time as he plans his next moves, which will either bring him ultimate power or death. In Falco's novel, we get to see the advent of the "Five Families", and old familiar characters, such as Tessio, Clemenza, and Tom Hagen. But there are two particular story features that really put some meat on the bone of Falco's effort. The first is the initiation into the "family business" of Santino "Sonny" Corleone, who in "The Family Corleone" is in his late teens. Against his father's wishes, the hot-tempered Sonny begins his career in crime with fellow Italian and Irish teens, unbeknownst to the Don. Soon Sonny's gang runs afoul of other mob elements, which in turn draw in the Corleone Family and set them on a collision course with the powerful boss, Joe Mariposa. The other interesting character study is that of the feared Corleone enforcer, Luca Brasi. As Falco begins his story, Brasi is an independent low-level leader of his own gang, who find themselves the frequent victims of Sonny Corleone's gang of thieves. "The Family Corleone" begins to then trace Brasi's dark and horrific descent into the most feared man in the underworld, and eventually, Vito Corleone's private messenger of death. While Mario Puzo set the bar so high that no one else's treatment of the Corleone family's saga can compete, Ed Falco's novel is a very enjoyable read and, in my opinion, breaks new ground with these fascinating literary characters. ## Features - Used Book in Good Condition ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #252,668 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #1,082 in Family Saga Fiction #1,539 in Organized Crime Thrillers #3,642 in Family Life Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 2,312 Reviews | ## Images ![The Family Corleone - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71iieUgyMbL.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Media Language, Media Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A fine read well deserving of appreciation for bridging a gap. *by M***B on November 2, 2025* I think the author did a fine job stitching together the period between where the Godfather 2 leaves us in the flashback years segment to where the Godfather 1 begins. I appreciated his attention to detail with somewhat trivial elements in regard to such things as radio programs playing in the background and roads being traveled in that era, it shows to me that he makes the effort to research even small things to get his story as accurate as possible. To be fair I thought some portions of the story were a bit over-emphasized such as Sonny's relationships with is mistress and with his fiancΓ©e to be, but that certainly took nothing away from the Corleone Family story line, which I found to be excellent at giving the reader insight as to how things came to be. Falco paints a picture for us of how every character evolved to become who we see them as in the Godfather 1. Vito, Tessio, Clemenza, Tom, Sonny, the heads of the other families.... even Solazzo makes an appearance. I thought some of the other reviews were unfair in calling out this author as no Puzo. Falco is just telling the reader a story. A story of how he sees it: And he succeeds in getting that story told in a clear fashion. Of course he is no Puzo. It's so difficult to be Puzo, even Puzo couldn't be Puzo for the Godfather 3. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Best of the post-Puzo efforts! *by L***C on November 26, 2012* As a big fan of "The Godfather" trilogy of movies, as well as the Mario Puzo original novel, I was hopeful that "Family Corleone" by Ed Falco was going to bring something interesting and fresh to the story. After being disappointed with other post-Puzo attempts at the story of the Corleone's, I have to say that Falco's novel did the characters and the saga proud. "The Family Corleone" is set in the early 1930's, as the Corleone Family jockeys for position and power in New York City's underworld. We see Vito Corleone in his prime as his looks to expand his criminal empire. Facing danger from a powerful rival and his allies, the Don bides his time as he plans his next moves, which will either bring him ultimate power or death. In Falco's novel, we get to see the advent of the "Five Families", and old familiar characters, such as Tessio, Clemenza, and Tom Hagen. But there are two particular story features that really put some meat on the bone of Falco's effort. The first is the initiation into the "family business" of Santino "Sonny" Corleone, who in "The Family Corleone" is in his late teens. Against his father's wishes, the hot-tempered Sonny begins his career in crime with fellow Italian and Irish teens, unbeknownst to the Don. Soon Sonny's gang runs afoul of other mob elements, which in turn draw in the Corleone Family and set them on a collision course with the powerful boss, Joe Mariposa. The other interesting character study is that of the feared Corleone enforcer, Luca Brasi. As Falco begins his story, Brasi is an independent low-level leader of his own gang, who find themselves the frequent victims of Sonny Corleone's gang of thieves. "The Family Corleone" begins to then trace Brasi's dark and horrific descent into the most feared man in the underworld, and eventually, Vito Corleone's private messenger of death. While Mario Puzo set the bar so high that no one else's treatment of the Corleone family's saga can compete, Ed Falco's novel is a very enjoyable read and, in my opinion, breaks new ground with these fascinating literary characters. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ EXCELLENTLY DONE! *by J***S on December 23, 2012* This book is presented so well you can almost envision a movie of it in your head. Narrator has extremely good grasp of different accents, and does Don Corleone and Frankie Pangelli exactly like they sounded in the movie "Godfather" You'd think Brando was there, reading his part! The most valuable part of the book is that it explains the backgrounds of Tom Hagen, Luca Brazzi, Michael, and Vito. Sonny's escapades lead to understanding about his later demise, as do the Michael scenes. It is well presented, and covers the era 15 years before the opening of Godfather itself. It ends with a wedding, just as the Godfather starts with one, with the same casts of characters filling the scenes. It also explains a bit from the movie/book "Godfather' that says, "every ten years or so we have to got to war". There is a war before, in the 30's, and the Don's ways are used to benefit him and set up the later book. Johnny Fontaine is in here, as is Clemenza, Tessio, Tattaglia, & Barzini and others we all enjoyed in the movie. Luca in this book is described as huge, tall, wide. In "Godfather" he is depicted as short, wide, more a sparkplug look, and has 'lips that look like veal', but in this he apparently looks like the "Frankenstein" character popular in that period's movies. The mechanications of the mob, and of management, which is what this really is, are well told. There were a couple reviews I read that weren't crazy about the book, but I cannot understand what they may have been expecting. This is well-done, well-told, has suspense, love, drama, evil, and provides such a background to everyone that it makes the original book understandable as to where these people came from. We never knew the shocking facts of how Tom Hagan became an orphan, nor of the doubts and conflicts Santino and his father had, nor the fact that Michael always had his nose in a book when he was 12-15 years old. Fredo is depicted with about the same qualities he later had as a man: weak, needing respect, getting none, a bit desperate. I could go on, but I recommend a person with interest go ahead on this, and get it. I am a Godfather Fan, and have also gotten "Godfather Returns" and "Godfather's Revenge." These books all fill in the gaps that the movies tried to cover, and they are all well-done. WOG --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - πŸ›’ **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** β€” Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** β€” Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - πŸ’° **No Hidden Fees** β€” All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - πŸ”„ **15-Day Free Returns** β€” Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - πŸ”’ **Secure Payments** β€” Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** β€” Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/5677592-the-family-corleone](https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/5677592-the-family-corleone) --- *Product available on Desertcart United Kingdom* *Store origin: GB* *Last updated: 2026-10-16*