• The Good Mothers

  • The True Story of the Women Who Took on The World's Most Powerful Mafia
  • By: Alex Perry
  • Narrated by: Eva Alexander
  • Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (54 ratings)

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The Good Mothers  By  cover art

The Good Mothers

By: Alex Perry
Narrated by: Eva Alexander
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Publisher's summary

We live in their buildings, work in their companies, shop in their stores, eat in their restaurants and elect politicians they fund. Founded more than 150 years ago by shepherding families in the toe of Italy, the 'Ndrangheta is today the world's most powerful mafia, with a crushing presence in Southern Italy, a market-moving size in global finance and a reach that extends to 50 countries around the world. And yet, remarkably, few of us have ever heard of it.

The 'Ndrangheta's power rests on a code of silence, omertà, enforced by a claustrophobic family hierarchy and murderous misogyny. Men and boys rule. Girls are married off as teenagers in arranged clan alliances. Beatings are routine. A woman who is 'unfaithful' - even to a dead husband - can expect her sons, brothers or father to kill her to erase the 'family shame'.

In 2009, when abused wife Lea Garofalo 'disappears' after giving evidence against her mafiosi husband, prosecutor Alessandra Cerreti realises the 'Ndrangheta's bigotry may be its great flaw. The key to bringing down this criminal empire is to free its women and allow them to speak out and testify. When Alessandra finds two collaborators inside Italy's biggest crime families, she must persuade them to cooperate and save themselves and their children. The stakes could not be higher. Alessandra is fighting to save a nation. The mafiosi are fighting for their existence. The women are fighting for their lives. Not all will survive.

©2018 Alex Perry (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

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Superb narration of a stunningly well written book

This is a brilliant book beautifully written and narrated. Eva Alexander's diction and delivery in English convey the exquisite music in the Italian language. (It runs about an hour longer that the other narration.) Communities and businesses that suffered for generations due to organized crime were defeated by the mothers and daughters who dared to challenge the Calabrian mafia and by the lead prosecutor, Alessandra Cerreti, who chose not to have children because of the danger of her work. Cerreti proved that women's knowledge of these crimes could inform the courts and rally the people to break the 'Ndrangheta's hold.

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An astonishing and courageous book

I usually listen to my books In the car only. But the content and the manner in which the book is written had me listening at every opportunity. I am familiar with the mafiosi of Sicilia, Napoli and Calabria. And the Ndrangheta is by far the most infiltrated into many countries and their daily dealings.

With the zeitgeist of #metoo, this book is timeous and captures that most eloquently.

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Excellent

Fascinating and horrifying all at once. Highly recommend! The narrator did a wonderful job, bringing nuances to a fascinating and compelling drama.

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