The Fortunate Pilgrim cover art

The Fortunate Pilgrim

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The Fortunate Pilgrim

By: Mario Puzo
Narrated by: John Kenneth
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About this listen

Before The Godfather and The Last Don, Mario Puzo wrote The Fortunate Pilgrim, a novel many believe to be one of the classics of Italian-American fiction. In this special edition, Mario Puzo's legions of fans will discover a different side of this legendary author, writing for the first time about an Italian family in which a woman holds the power.

Lucia Santa has traveled 3,000 miles of dark ocean, from the mountain farms of Italy to the streets of New York, hoping for a better life. Instead, she finds herself in Hell's Kitchen, in a bad marriage, raising six children on her own. As Lucia struggles to hold her family together, her daughter confronts the adult world of work and romance while her eldest son is drawn into the Mafia. Meanwhile, her youngest son aspires to American pursuits she cannot understand.©2004 Mario Puzo (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
Art & Literature Authors Entertainment & Celebrities Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Italy

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Critic reviews

"Puzo has called this 1965 pre-Godfather novel his personal favorite of his oeuvre.....This 'very colorful and perceptive novel' remains 'highly readable' for today's audience." ( Library Journal)
All stars
Most relevant
Genuinely enjoyed every minute, a perfect story about generational trauma. I felt myself fully in the minds of the charaters without being spoon-fed their every thought

Definitely Mario Puzos best work

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US Italian family saga. Well written if a bit overblown. Peopled with interesting characters but all somewhat unsympathetic and lacking in . . . well really not bothered about there fates.
Completed the listen, waiting for an event beyond the mundane, and rather a relief to come to the end.
Perhaps if one were an American with Italian ancestry . . .

Goes on a bit

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