Ballad of the Gangster’s Daughter

Even bad men have daughters that can’t wait for them to come home.

Serena Magic is the gifted middle child of a criminal entrepreneur from the Bronx. By the time she is twelve, her father Gerard has cobbled together enough street victories to relocate their family to the affluent suburbs of Connecticut. All is lush and green until the tranquility of their escape is viciously disrupted when a series of tragedies claims one Magic daughter after another.

Spanning seven deaths over five decades, each chapter tells the loss of a different sister. And every funeral reveals two paths for Serena’s future—one where she can satisfy her desire for adventure and another where she continues to protect her family at all costs—even when they are on the wrong side of the truth, the law, or both.

She voyages out to the ivy leagues, to Washington and to a career in the music business, only to be dragged back into the family’s dilemmas. We follow her dual loyalties from the fire-hydrant showers of the Bronx to the seafood bistros of Southport, from Dartmouth to inner-city Philadelphia, from the balconies of Rome to the fluorescent-lit supermarkets of Florida, from the apex of her New York City home—to a row of tombs and the yoke of dangerous people who love her very much.

With every tragedy, Serena must choose.