The Good Mothers by Alex Perry

Author : Alex Perry
Title : The Good Mothers
Published : 2018
Publisher :  William Collins
Pages : 320
Genre : True Crime

     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, And yet, remarkably, few of us have ever heard of it. The 'Ndrangheta's power rests on a code of silence, omerta, enforced by a claustrophobic family hierarchy and murderous misogyny. Men and boys rule. Girls are married off as teenagers in arranged clan alliances. When abused wife Lea Garofalo `disappears' after giving evidence against her Mafiosi husband, prosecutor Alessandra Cerreti realizes 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. 

     Many a true crime novel has been dedicated to the mafia in one form or another. Its history has been sprawled across so many pages that it is hard to not have a little knowledge about them and what they have done. But one common thread in all these books is the focus on the lives of men in these families.  So what becomes of the weaves and daughter of the powerful men, can they live with knowing what their husbands do and where the money comes from. This is where the author starts his book. These women have a hard life stuck at the whims of the males in their families. It strikes me that for them the only way out they can see is to be murdered.  How can living in constant fear be any way to live your life. There is no free will allowed to them, Having seen up close what controlling men can do to women it is a very terrifying sight to see. 

     It is the disappearance of one Young wife that spurs on one prosecutor to act. Things need to change and in a fight against a group of people who are whiling to kill anyone who gets in there way it is a fight that will take everything they have. For me, it takes a look at something that for far too long has been overlooked. For to often, we have assumed the complicity of these women. In taking us in to there lives we get a real eye-opening look at what really goes on. For these women, it takes every ounce of courage they have to stand up and allow their voices to be heard loud and clear.   This book for me turned my head upside down. I learned a lot from reading the pages of this book, the 'Ndrangheta are group most of us have not heard of but this doesn't make them any less dangerous. For a hundred and fifty years they have cut a bloody path through southern Italy

     The author walks an amazingly fine line as he tells the story of these women alongside the hunt to bring these men to justice. Throughout the book plenty of time is devoted to backing up there stories with the facts that give great credence to the lives these women have been forced to live. At times it is truly shocking the violence that they have suffered. For me, I think it takes so much to stand up when you already know the probable outcome is for your body to never been found.  It is a battle that is hard fought and you can not feel the greatest respect for them. It is also the danger the author puts himself in,  in telling their story. For me he managed to pull off with great success, I could not put this book down as I become captivated by the stories of everyone concerned. Maybe it's just to easy to become oblivious to the lives of others as we live in the bubble of our own lives. 

     If like me you have read a great many books about the Italian mafia I feel this book will show you the other side of what happens. That sometimes it takes a few brave women to start a change that can affect the lives of so many others in the region and the country they live in. I highly recommend this book it's well written and contains a whole bunch of pictures to give faces to the names. If you want some new true crime novel to jump into I suggest you go grab your self a copy.