Then An Angel Came

" What is a family? Mario Puzo first answered that question, unforgettably, in his landmark bestseller The Godfather; with the creation of the Corleones he forever redefined the concept of blood loyalty. Now, thirty years later, Puzo enriches us all with his ultimate vision of the subject, in a masterpiece that crowns his remarkable career: the story of the greatest crime family in Italian history -- the Borgias.

In The Family, this singular novelist transports his readers back to fifteenth-century Rome and reveals the extravagance and intrigue of the Vatican as surely as he once revealed the secrets of the Mafia. At the story's center is Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI, a man whose lustful appetites for power, luxury, and women were matched only by his consuming love of family. Surrounding him are his extraordinary children: the simple, unloved Jofre; the irascible, heartless Juan; the beautiful, strong-willed Lucrezia; and the passionate warrior Cesare, Machiavelli's friend and inspiration. Their intermingled stories constitute a symphony of human emotion and behavior, from pride to romance to jealousy to betrayal and murderous rage. And their time, place, and characters are recaptured in all their earthy, human grandeur, with the unerring insight and compassion that were Mario Puzo's great gifts.

A labor of love two decades in the making, The Family marks the final triumph of one of the greatest storytellers of our time. "

THEN AN ANGEL CAME

by Carol Gino

(Kensington, 1997)

"They were a three-generation Italian-American family steeped in tradtional values. Carol Gino's old-world father was a stern disciplinarian who loved opera and polka; her mother, a shy housewife who lived for her family, while Carol herself had made a spiritual journey away from her Catholic roots. But nothing in the Gino family's past could ever have prepared them for the tragedy that would change all their lives forever. In this unforgettable true story, Carol chronicles the death of her grandson from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and the miraculous appearance of an angel named Janith, who came to show them a reality they had never before perceived."


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carol Gino, R.N., M.A. is a registered nurse whose more than twenty-year career has included experience in intesive care, psychiatric nursing, hospice care and teaching. Her articles have appeared in numberous magazines and newspapers, such as NEW YORK MAGAZINE, NURSING, AMERICAN JOURNAL OF NURSING, and the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Her first book, THE NURSE'S STORY, was a national bestseller and was translated into nine foreign languages. Her second book, RUSTY'S STORY, a NEW YORK TIMES bestseller, won the National Book Award from the Epilepsy Foundation of America. Carol Gino lives in Amityville, New York, and has two children and four living grandchildren.