American Marconi Wireless News - New 'Godfather' novel to tell mafia story from women's perspective

Publisher Random House has acquired the rights to the book, titled "Connie," written by bestselling author Adriana Trigiani, she announced in a post on Facebook on Wednesday.

Connie is the only daughter of Vito Corleone, the fictional mafia patriarch and father of his eventual successor, Michael Corleone.

The new book will be the fourth authorized by the family of Mario Puzo, the author of the original novel, since his death in 1999.

Earlier additions to the saga included "The Godfather Returns" (2004) and "The Godfather's Revenge" (2006), which continued the chronology of the original books.

The series also includes "The Family Corleone" (2012), a standalone prequel set during the Great Depression, years before the events of "The Godfather."

"I enter Mario's world and we're telling it through the women of The Godfather," Trigiani, who has Italian roots, said on Facebook.

Random House did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment, but the publisher has confirmed the book deal to several US media outlets.

"The Godfather is a page turner," Trigiani wrote, "but when I searched for the matriarch, she was sorely missing."

Anthony Puzo, Mario Puzo's son, told Publishers Weekly: "We had been looking for someone to retell the story from a new perspective."

Anthony Puzo, who oversees his father's literary estate, said Trigiani was astonished to learn that the character of Vito, the formidable Corleone family patriarch, was inspired by his grandmother.

Foreign rights have already been sold in eight countries, including France and Germany.

Published in 1969, the first novel in the saga, "The Godfather," sold 21 million copies.

It was adapted into two films by Francis Ford Coppola -- "The Godfather" (1972) and "The Godfather Part II" (1974), which together won nine Oscars.

A third film, "The Godfather Part III" (1990), was based on an original screenplay.

In 1984, Mario Puzo published "The Sicilian", which is not a sequel to "The Godfather," but a standalone narrative about the Sicilian hero Salvatore Giuliano.

G.Stevens--AMWN