The Godfather Returns (56 page)

They discussed terms.

“This is perfect, Roger.”

Francesca applauded. The men kissed each other on the cheeks. They all headed for the elevator.

“Once a New Yorker, huh?” Cole said. “I knew you’d come back. Welcome home, my friend!”

“It’s good to be back,” Michael said, louder than he’d meant to say it. As the elevator doors closed, his hollow words still echoed in the stone hallway of his empty new home.

Acknowledgments

Hearty, heartfelt thanks to the following people for their help during the writing of this book: Dottie Ames, Lynn Anderson, Ignazio Apolloni, Rachel Bernstein, Thomas Bligh, Kate Blum, Christine Cabello, Felice Cavallaro, Gina Centrello, Roger Cole, Anthony Corleone, Sanyu Dillon, Deanna Dunn, Magee Finn, Francesca Fontane, Rino Francaviglia, Buzz Fratello, Father Andrew Hagen, Theresa Hagen, Cesare Indelicato, Jr., Jonathan Jao, Jonny “the Pencil” Karp, Barbara (Geraci) Kennedy, J. A. Kriausky, Mike Lauer, Carole Lowenstein, Congresswoman Winifred “Annie” McGowan, Elizabeth McGuire, Daniel Menaker, Kay Michaelson, Hal Mitchell, Moonflower® (née Beverly Geraci), Gene Mydlowski, Tom Nevins, Neil Olson, Leoluca Orlando, Phil Ornstein, Allyson Pearl, Beth Pearson, Thomas Perry, Dr. Katherine (Corleone) Pietralunga, Anthony Puzo, Jillian Quint, Kelle Ruden, Donald “Donnie Bags” Serio, Sir Oliver Smith-Christmas, Willie “the Journeyman” Tonelli, Governor George Van Arsdale, Harriet Wasserman, Don Weisberg, Anthony Ziccardi, and Andy Warhol.

In addition, the following organizations provided richly appreciated support during the writing of this book: the Corporation of Yaddo, the Hambidge Center for the Arts, the Ragdale Foundation, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the World War II Instititute at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. Thank you one and all.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M
ARK
W
INEGARDNER
received a master of fine arts degree in fiction writing from George Mason University and published his first book at age twenty-six, while still in graduate school. His books have been chosen as among the best of the year by
The New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Sun-Times, USA Today,
and the New York Public Library. His work has appeared in various publications including
G
Q
, Playboy, Family Circle, American Short Fiction, Ladies’ Home Journal, Parents,
and
The New York Times Magazine.
Several of his stories have been chosen as Distinguished Stories of the Year in
The Best American Short Stories.
He has also served as a board member of the Associated Writing Programs. He is now a professor and director of the creative writing program at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.

ALSO BY MARK WINEGARDNER

FICTION

That’s True of Everybody

Crooked River Burning

The Veracruz Blues

NONFICTION

Prophet of Sandlots

Elvis Presley Boulevard

as
EDITOR

Three by Thirty-three

We Are What We Ate

The 26th Man

Praise for Mark Winegardner

C
ROOKED
R
IVER
B
URNING

“Brilliant. What gives the book its edge is its setting: Cleveland. Winegardner weaves the love story through the fabric of a tumultuous era in which Cleveland, one of the birthplaces of rock’n’roll, slides substantially in population, becomes the butt of many jokes and sees the Cuyahoga River catch fire more than once. . . . Winegardner’s portraits of the legendary disc jockey Alan Freed and of Dorothy Fuldheim, a television commentator who worked into her nineties, are classics.”

—
The New York Times Book Review

“Just about every possible Cleveland fun fact seems crammed into this meaty, engrossing novel of Cleveland in the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s. . . . A love letter to Cleveland, at its heart, but it succeeds through its obsession with its subject in somehow transcending the very regionalism it celebrates.”

—
Chicago Tribune

“A breathless, sprawling epic. The ‘Local Heroes’ chapter on Carl Stokes, which encapsulates his life but concentrates on the night of his election as mayor, is a minor masterpiece.”

—
The San Diego Union-Tribune

“Winegardner infuses his tale with an exhilarating energy. Like Jonathan Franzen in
The Twenty-Seventh City,
or E. L. Doctorow in
City of God,
Winegardner takes on the American metropolis, making Cleveland his own in plain, straightforward prose. A tantalizing slice of contemporary history.”

—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)

“Dos Passos’s classic trilogy
U.S.A.
now has a rival, in this richly plotted, consistently engrossing big novel. . . . A wonderful read that brings the urban tradition in American fiction vibrantly back to life.”

—
Kirkus Reviews
(starred review)

“A masterpiece of pure storytelling.”

—J
ONATHAN
L
ETHEM
, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for
Motherless Brooklyn

The Veracruz Blues

“Not just a baseball novel; it is the best baseball novel that I have read. It is a book that delves deep into national myth . . . a moving and significant story.”

—
The New York Times Book Review

“With the skills one normally associates with E. L. Doctorow and Gore Vidal, Winegardner has brought history to life. His book is golden.”

—
The San Diego Union-Tribune

“It should take its rightful place among the best baseball novels ever written.”

—
USA Today

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2004 by The Estate of Mario Puzo

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

R
ANDOM
H
OUSE
and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available.

Random House website address:
www.atrandom.com

eISBN: 978-1-58836-433-3

v3.0