I’ll start off by saying I’m not normally big on the non-fiction side of things most of the time but there was something that intrigued me about this book. I was extremely pumped when I received this eArc from Simon & Schuster & Netgalley.
This is an in-depth look into the lives of Leslie Bradford Scott & her father Jean Claude Garofoli. Everything about this book screams “no way is this real”. Leslie takes us on a wild ride from Grimsby, Ontario to Florida with her family talking about diamonds, Sheiks, mafioso, armed robbery, fraud, CIA, informants….. honestly there is literally everything in this book. There are a few things that I took away from this story that I am not sure I was supposed to but oh my goodness were Father & Daughter geniuses. The amount of businesses and ventures that were started and had succeeded for periods of time for these two was absolutely astonishing. The amount of times they re-invented themselves and restructured their lives is utterly amazing. But the true feat is the depths that Leslie goes to in trying to understand her Father and his life is unwavering dedication. It all starts with her mom handing her a binder of her father’s memoir that he wrote while in prison. While delving into his account she encountered alot of what he wrote didn’t match up with her memories. Here begins her journey to piecing together her childhood into adulthood and who her father and her family truly were. The people she tracks down the secrets and lies she uncovers it will blow your mind.
I’m going to be thinking about this story for a long while and the utter commitment Leslie had in finding herself and coming to peace with her past and accepting who her father truly was. A fantastic read.