The Fortunate Pilgrim

“The best thing Puzo’s ever Written… What sets this book apart is that Puzo wrote it from the heart.”

—The Rocky Mountain News

“The conflicts of new and old, poverty and riches, crime and punishment make for a rich work of fiction.”

—The Denver Post

“Call it The Godmother. Lucia Santa Angeluzzi-Corbo is easily the equal of Don Corleone, a calculating, tough peasant woman who came to the New World to marry a man she scarcely remembered…. The author lovingly but starkly evokes the street life of New York’s Lower West Side…. If you are not already a Puzo fan, this gorgeously written and deeply moving book will make you one.”

—American Way

“Among Puzo’s books, The Fortunate Pilgrim comes closest to the texture of the everyday life of Italian-American immigrants. Yes, it has some sex and crime, but it is quieter in tone, less macho, more real, than The Godfather.”

—Lexington Herald-Leader

“There is no doubt that in both form and content, The Fortunate Pilgrim is Puzo’s greatest contribution to American literature…. The best of The Godfather comes out of this novel…. The saga of the Angeluzzi-Corbo family brings out the best and the worst of Italian ghetto life, which Puzo dramatizes through an urban realism that can match the best writers of this genre…. Puzo should have become famous for this novel…. We should buy this book because it will give us a greater understanding of who we are by showing us where we came from.”

—Italian America