In the dusty summer orchards of 1939 San Jose, California, seventeen-year-old Violetta Giordano lives a bucolic life. But appearances are deceptive. In the Giordano family, ties to the Mafia stretch as far away as Sicily and bind just as tightly.
Ready to embark on a journey of self-discovery, sexual desire, and forbidden love, with handsome young immigrant Gaetano Sanna, Violetta’s plans are uprooted when she is forced into an arranged marriage with one of the most notorious crime bosses in the country. To ensure her family’s survival, Violetta sacrifices her heart and sanity to protect Gaetano and those she loves from certain death.
The deeper she submerges into this underground macabre world, the harder it is to gauge her own morality. Such is the life of a Mafia queen. The rules: keep your mouth shut, endure a life of treachery and abuse, lift riches from the dead, do your duty, and—above all—play the game. No one refuses a Don and gets away with it. The mob always collects…