Loyalty — Lisa Scottoline

#1 best-selling author Lisa Scottoline delivers Loyalty, an emotional, action-packed historical epic of love and justice, set during the rise of the Mafia in Sicily.

Loyalty can save a soul, or destroy one.
 
Franco Fiorvante is a handsome lemon-grower who has toiled for years on the estate of boss Baron Zito. Franco dreams of owning his own lemon grove, but the rigid class system of Sicily thwarts his ambitions. Determined to secure a prosperous future, Franco will do anything to prove his loyalty to the Baron. But when Baron Zito asks him to arrange the kidnapping of a little boy, Franco crosses the point of no return, setting in motion the making of the world's first Mafia family.
 
Gaetano Catalano is an idealistic young lawyer, whose devotion for justice is a calling. Gaetano is a member of the Beati Paoli, a real-life secret society of aristocrats who investigate crime, since corruption riddles Palermo. Gaetano and the Beati Paoli set out to find the boy and bring him home, but for Gaetano, the mission turns to obsession. He risks everything to right the wrong and bring justice to his beloved city.
 
The kidnapped boy, Dante, grows up in a madhouse without even knowing his last name. He doubts his own sanity until he meets Lucia, a girl with a tragic past of her own. They fall in love, then set out to find Dante's kidnapper and learn his true identity.
 
The lives of these unforgettable characters intertwine with others to collide in this classic tale of good versus evil. The plot of Loyalty twists and turns as secrets are uncovered, identities discovered, and a battle fought to determine who wins, in a monumental showdown.
 
Loyalty is as unique and dramatic as the landscape of Sicily herself, sweeping readers to this sparking jewel in the middle of the Mediterranean, where lush lemon groves and delicious food stand in stark contrast to a turbulent history of colonization and corruption. Loyalty is historical fiction that moves at the lightning pace of a thriller, a novel that no reader will be able to put down -- or forget.