Ed Falco to Write Prequel to The Godfather

Posted on May 5, 2011

Grand Central Publishing announced it will publish a prequel to The Godfather by Mario Puzo. The prequel, The Family Corleone, is slated for publication in June 2012. It will be written by author Ed Falco based on an unproduced screenplay by Mario Puzo.

The new book is bound to be a bestseller with so much interest in Puzo's Vito Corleone character from the books and films. Originally published in 1969, The Godfather, spent 67 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and has sold over 21 million copies.

The prequel is set in 1933 in the depths of depression-era New York. The prequel takes place before the Corleones rise to power and tells the unknown history of how Vito Corleone fought to survive in the brutal criminal underworld to become the influential and respected Don in The Godfather.

Ed Falco is the author of four story collections, three novels, and several plays, in addition to poems, essays, and book reviews. He is a professor of English at Virginia Tech, where he directs the MFA Program in Creative Writing. Some of his awards include the Pushcart Prize and the Emily Clark Balch Prize in Fiction.

Tony Puzo, Mario Puzo’s son and executor of the Puzo estate, said in a statement, "With The Family Corleone, Ed Falco has written a novel that is true to Mario Puzo’s legacy, and will be cherished by all Godfather fans."