Search results for ""author mario puzo""

In the final days of the Second World War, Michael Rogan, an American intelligence officer, is tortured by a group of seven senior Gestapo officers who need to discover the secrets he alone can give them. Ten years later, when he has recovered from the appalling injuries he suffered, and determined to revenge the death of his wife at the hands of the same men, he begins a quest to track down and kill each one of his tormentors. Dark, violent, and graphic, this is an addictive thriller about how far one man will go to exact his own justice. Written a year before Puzo completed The Godfather, published under a pseudonym and only very recently brought to light, Six Graves to Munich bears all the hallmarks of a master storyteller.

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Omertà, the Sicilian code of silence, has been the cornerstone of the Mafia's sense of honour for centuries. Born in the Sicilian hills, omertà carried the Mafia through a hundred years of change, but now at the century's end it is becoming a relic from a bygone age. Honour may be silent - but money talks. New York - a mob boss is assassinated. His nephew Astorre Viola and the head of the city's FBI both launch investigations into the murder. But this time silence spreads like a contagion: the silence of rival gangs, the silence of crooked bankers, even the silence of the courts. The world of the Mafia is riven with greed, and Viola knows that now is the time to claim his destiny...

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_________________________________The classic novel that inspired 'the greatest crime film of all time'Tyrant, blackmailer, racketeer, murderer - his influence reaches every level of American society. Meet Don Corleone, a friendly man, a just man, a reasonable man. The deadliest lord of the Cosa Nostra. The Godfather.But no man can stay on top forever, not when he has enemies on both sides of the law. As the ageing Vito Corleone nears the end of a long life of crime, his sons must step up to manage the family business. Sonny Corleone is an old hand, while World War II veteran Michael Corleone is unused to the world of crime and reluctant to plunge into the business.Both the police and ruthless rival crime lords scent blood in the water. If the Corleone family is to survive, it needs a ruthless new don. But the price of success in a violent life may be too high to bear..._________________________________A modern masterpiece, The Godfather is a searing portrayal of the 1940s criminal underworld. Still shocking long after its initial publication, this compelling tale of blackmail, murder and family values is a true classic.

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Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.The Godfather, a Level 7 Reader, is B2 in the CEFR framework. The longer text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing future perfect simple, mixed conditionals, past perfect continuous, mixed conditionals, more complex passive forms and modals for deduction in the past.Michael Corleone is determined not to join his family's criminal businesses. He wants to live a normal life and marry his American girlfriend, Kay. But when members of his family are attacked, Michael realises that he has to take revenge.Visit the Penguin Readers websiteExclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

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MARIO PUZO'S FIRST ACCLAIMED NOVEL, BEFORE HIS CREATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER, THE GODFATHER. AN ASTOUNDING STORY OF CORRUPTION AND BETRAYAL.Hardened by the brutality and desceration of three long years of war, Walter Mosca returns to America a changed man. But he has no sooner arrived than he knows he must run back to the land of the enemy, to find the woman who accepts the rage and cruelty of the world around her. In Germany, where the bitter aftermath of war is everything apparent, American cigarettes will buy almost anything. Mosca now faces a different kind of war, one in which he must make a fateful decision - between love and ambition, passion and greed, life and death...

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In a corrupt world where crooked cops and desperate gamblers play dangerous games of betrayal, one man has power over them all The Last Don is Mario Puzo at his finest - a masterful saga of the last great American crime family, the Clericuzios, and their powerful reach into Hollywood and Las Vegas. Domenico Clericuzio is a wise and ruthless man who in his old age is determined to create a life free from criminal activities for his grandchildren. But as he strives to establish his heirs in legitimate society, secrets from his family's past spark a vicious and bloody war between cousins ...

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Michael Corleone's exile in Sicily is ending, but on the instructions of his father, The Godfather, he must bring back to him the young man known as Salvatore Giuliano - if he can find him. At sea amid the treacheries of a brutal and unfamiliar land, Michael must find a way through the labyrinthine deceits that surround him, while Giuliano prepares himself for a final confrontation with Don Croce, Capo di Capi of the Sicilian Mafia. A novel of explosive suspense, heroic action - and evil on an epic scale. In the hands of Mario Puzo's brilliantly sinister talent, the reader comes to know again the terrible magic of the Mafia.

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A CLASSIC TALE OF THE LOVES, CRIMES AND STRUGGLES CONFRONTED BY ONE FAMILY OF IMMIGRANTS LIVING IN NEW YORK CITY.From the barren farms of Italy to the cramped tenements of New York, Lucia Santa - wife, widow and mother of two families - must steer them through the Depression and the early years of war as they adapt to life in a strange land. However, she cannot prevent the conflict between Italian and American values - nor the violence and bloodshed which must surely follow...

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FROM THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER OF THE GODFATHER A STORY OF BIG-TIME GAMBLERS IN A FEVERISH WORLD WHERE LAW AND ORGANISED CRIME ARE ONE AND THE SAME...From New York to Las Vegas, Merlyn and his brother Artie obey their own code of honour in the ferment of contemporary America - a world of greed, lust, violence and betrayal, where the power of corruption and the corruption of power are nowhere better explored.

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_____________________________________From the legendary author of THE GODFATHER comes a novel of the original Italian crime familyFifteenth-century Italy. The Renaissance is in full swing, heralding a new golden age for Europe. But where there is gold – and power – there are those who are willing to do anything to get their hands on them.Enter the Borgias. Headed by Rodrigo Borgia, better known as Pope Alexander VI, this tight-knit family is fighting to keep its iron grip on Italy – but theirs is a lethal game, and the cost of failure is surely death.Scheming and plotting for their own ends are his children: Giovanni, the much-favoured golden boy; his younger brother Cesare, jealous and vicious; and Lucrezia, cunning, calculating and passionate. The Borgias face immense opposition from all quarters of Italy, but their deadliest foes may be far closer to home._____________________________________A tale of brutality and betrayal that crowns Mario Puzo's remarkable career_____________________________________'We are a family,' Alexander told his children. 'And the loyalty of the family must come before everything and everyone else. We must learn from each other, protect each other, and be bound first and foremost to each other. For if we honour that commitment, we will never be vanquished – but if we falter in that loyalty, we will all be condemned...'

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The behind-the-scenes story of the making of The Godfather, fifty years after the classic film’s original release.The story of how The Godfather was made is as dramatic, operatic, and entertaining as the film itself. Over the years, many versions of various aspects of the movie’s fiery creation have been told—sometimes conflicting, but always compelling. Mark Seal sifts through the evidence, has extensive new conversations with director Francis Ford Coppola and several heretofore silent sources, and complements them with colorful interviews with key players including actors Al Pacino, James Caan, Talia Shire, and others for irresistible insights into how the movie whose success some initially doubted roared to glory. On top of the usual complications of filmmaking, the creators of The Godfather had to contend with the real-life members of its subject matter: the Mob. During production of the movie, location permits were inexplicably revoked, author Mario Puzo got into a public brawl with an irate Frank Sinatra, producer Al Ruddy’s car was found riddled with bullets, men with “connections” vied to be in the cast, and some were given film roles. As Seal notes, this is the tale of “a classic movie that revolutionized filmmaking, saved Paramount Pictures, minted a new generation of movie stars, made its struggling author Mario Puzo rich and famous, and sparked a war between two of the mightiest powers in America: the sharks of Hollywood and the highest echelons of the Mob.” ​ Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli is the lively and complete story of how a masterpiece was made, perfect for anyone who loves the movies.

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