The Apple and the Shady Tree

Book excerpt: The true story of how a Jewish New Yorker's familial relations to the Mafia profoundly shaped her life. They say that "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." In Lisa Novick Goldberg's memoir she explores the veracity of this proverb by examining her complicated relationship with her father, whose closest friends happen to be bosses of the Genovese crime family. Goldberg begins with a mob-related murder that forever alters the way she views the world. Through chronological vignettes, both riveting and humorous, she takes us behind the scenes into the glitzy and corrupt world of organized crime where chaotic consequences wreak havoc on her fragile family. From her early childhood in Brooklyn, to growing up in the Five Towns of Long Island, to adulthood, Goldberg examines the fear, disappointment, and confusion that comes with a lifetime of negotiating identities as a privileged Jewish girl and a sort-of Mafia princess. In The Apple and the Shady Tree, Lisa Novick Goldberg takes you on her intensely heartfelt journey as she uproots her family tree and explores its misshapen branches and weakened leaves.