The Godmothers

Three very different women marry into an Italian American family with an abundance of secrets and ties to organized crime in Aubray’s second novel (after Cooking for Picasso). As Filomena, Lucy, and Amie get to know their spouses and Petrina, the fiery daughter of the family, they also become increasingly implicated in the family’s business, which repeatedly brings them into close contact with notorious gangsters. When war and other complications force their men to be elsewhere, the women must step up to protect the family’s interests. Aubray follows her characters from the 1930s to the 1950s, as scandals, betrayals, and revealed secrets repeatedly rock their friendships. The book’s suspenseful climax unfortunately doesn’t involve all four of the main protagonists, but it does incorporate a real-life Mafia summit to thrilling effect.