The Descendant

The story of an Italian immigrant family in the Wild West whose crazy, brave, and magical women overcame impossible odds to become bootleggers, brides--and Mafia bosses.

This based-on-real-events novel tells the story of the family that possibly inspired The Godfather--except this story doesn't begin with a small robbery in New York. Instead, The Descendant begins with a big, blooming love in the tiny town of Lucca Sicula, Sicily. Told through the lives of the strong Italian women who fought against impossible odds, this historically inspired narrative introduces a whole cast of fascinating characters.

Mariano Barbera was a strong, powerfully built man who saw tiny fourteen-year-old Maria Ragusa at her family's store and was struck dumb. He had to have her, and she wanted him just as badly. Their life together leads the couple and their children from earthquake-ravaged Sicily to bondage in the mines of Colorado, to cattle ranching in Pueblo, to Mafia life on the mean streets of Red Hook, Brooklyn.

This sweeping family saga centers around the Barberas' ten children from their three cowboy gangster sons, Peter, Joe, and Austin to their seven wildly different cowgirl daughters. First there's little Flo--born on the night of the wolves and whose own alpha wolf never left her side--as she navigates life alongside her best pal and younger sister, Clara. Then there's Flo's many older sisters: Callie, who loved and lost; Angie, who loved and left; gorgeous Laura, who loved the wrong man; grouchy but brilliant Helen, who loved many times; and tough-as-nails wrangler Michelina, who loved a woman more than the husband she was forced to marry.

The Descendant is not just the story of how the mountain Mafia began in the United States. This is the story of a family of scrappy, tough, smart folks who refused to let all the power in the world keep them down.

Author: Linda Stasi
Publisher: Regalo Press
Published: 03/10/2026
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.20w x 1.40d
ISBN: 9798895653432

About the Author
Linda Stasi is a novelist and multi-award winning journalist. Her first novel, The Sixth Station, hit Amazon's Top 25 and was hailed as "A helluva religious thriller," by Nelson DeMille, while Steve Berry said, "You'll be grabbing the pages so tight your knuckles will turn white!"

Stasi's sequel, Book of Judas, received acclaim from mega bestselling authors such as Sherrilyn Kenyon, who called it, "An innovative masterpiece!"

Stasi has appeared on talk shows and news channels such as The Today Show, Good Morning America, Good Day New York, and The View as well as CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and many others.

She now serves as a trustee of the upcoming Museum of Civil Rights and is the on-camera book critic for CUNY TV's Book It. She holds a bachelor of fine arts from New York Institute of Technology.