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 twentieth-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.
"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
"Loyalty, love, loss and redemption take this well told tale to a searing conclusion. You won't be able to put it down!" - Adriana Trigiani, author of Tony's Wife and The Shoemaker's Wife
"It's been a long time since I've stayed up all night to read a book.... Krupitsky has created a riveting story powerful in its realism." - Diane Chamberlain, author of Big Lies in a Small Town
"Krupitsky has constructed a work of exquisite tension....A tremendous debut." - Fiona Davis, author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue
"If you've ever wondered what all of those Italian mafia movies would look like from the perspective of the women in the families, then you need to pick up a copy of The Family by Naomi Krupitsky right now." - PopSugar
"Krupitsky beautifully captures [Sofia and Antonia's] day-to-day lives under never-ending tension. The women's rich stories make this worthwhile." - Publishers Weekly
"With lyrical, dreamlike prose...Krupitsky's confident style adds a satisfying literary dimension to the often-told tale of how the Mafia tested family loyalties...An authentic, moving novel." - Historical Novels Review
"Compelling and electrically charged... The Family explores the darkness that lurks just below the surface of compulsory Sunday dinners, forced family vacations, and the crushing obligations of silence and obedience." - Lynda Cohen Loigman, author of The Two-Family House and The Wartime Sisters
"A dazzling debut." - Sarah Winman, author of Tin Man and Still Life
"Krupitsky's fierce debut affirms the potential strength of female friendships against the backdrop of intergenerational trauma... The Family is elucidating and propulsive, a nimbly-written exploration of human connection." - TaraShea Nesbit, author of Beheld and The Wives of Los Alamos
"[A] female version of The Sopranos...As voyeurs, we get to watch two women love and lose, feel and learn, while losing ourselves in the staccato melody of Naomi's prose." - Katie Couric Media
"Fast-paced and readable, and the ebb and flow between Sofia and Antonia as secrets threaten their friendship propel the reader forward." - Kirkus Reviews
