Summary

Just preceding Book 1 is a one-page prologue, with the time marker “July, 1948” (1). The prologue sets up a central symbolic metaphor for the novel: the idea of shooting a gun as jumping into cold water. In both cases, the person shooting or jumping are in a position of power before they act, whereas after the bullet is fired and the person is underwater, they have relinquished this power.

After this one-page prologue, Book 1 begins, with the time marker “1928-1937” (3). In the opening pages, the narrator describes the home life of our two protagonists, Sofia Colicchio and Antonia Russo, and introduces the friendship between the two, who at the novel’s opening are both five years old.

Antonia’s father, Carlo Russo, and Sofia’s father, Joey Colicchio, both work for the same mob boss, whose name is Tommy Fianzo. The novel opens during Prohibition, and...