Fact and fiction fuse in feminist Italian author Maria Rosa Cutrufelli’s first novel, Tina, Mafia Soldier, which is also the author’s first to be translated into English.

Originally published in 1994, Tina Cannizzaro’s story was inspired by that of Emanuela Azzarelli, a young woman who became the leader of a male teenage gang in the Sicilian town of Gela. Cutrufelli chronicles the events that shaped Tina’s life and set her on an irreversible path of crime and, ultimately, self-destruction against the backdrop of 1990s Sicily.

Full review: https://crimefictionlover.com/2023/03/tina-mafia-soldier-by-maria-rosa-cutrufelli/

This was seriously hard to get into. I stopped reading after 2 chapters. There was all of this beautiful description and very little plot. I feel like this needed a ton of Just couldn't do it.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

Tina is a boss. A Mafia boss and a masculine presenting woman. The action, love and family aspects will draw you in as well her strength and tenacity. I loved this book and those who love The Godfather and Jackie Collins Lucky series will as well. Hollywood better take notice.

Tina, Mafia Soldier by Maria Rosa Cutrufelli was an incredible book and one I will be purchasing as soon as it comes out for a re-read. My f*ther's family is from Sicily (my great grandmother Lucy was born there and she was one of my angels) so this was a bit of a personal story for me and a very powerful one.

Tina, Mafia Soldier is a gender bending novel about Tina, who becomes the head of a mafioso family in her hometown.
Having seen her father murdered as a young child, she was determined to not only join the mafia but to advance as well.
As a woman she was ostracized and grudgingly accepted. She is a brutal woman leaving destruction in her path.
When an Italian teacher reads a story about Tina in a newspaper, she decides to write a novel about her. The two women are at odds and there is no way this will end well.

Finding a depiction of a feminist, gender bending character engaged in a man's world - breaking all the stereotypes of womanhood - is truly delightful. I hope to read more books by Cutrufelli.