The Scarlet Thread

Veteran novelist Anthony's ( The House of Vandekar ) new romance is a lively story whose seemingly conventional characters sometimes behave in a surprising fashion. British nurse Angela Drummond meets American serviceman Steven Falconi in Italy during WW II, and he insists on marrying her when she becomes pregnant. After U.S. Army officials alert her to his Mafia background, she returns to her native England, shortly before her hospital is bombed; Steven believes her dead. His postwar rise in the family business is clinched by his marriage to Carla Fabrizzi, spoiled daughter of another powerful mafioso. The marriage begins to deteriorate during their honeymoon, and Steven has a brief interlude with an elegant, sophisticated Frenchwoman, a liaison that will have tragic consequences. Many years later, Steven learns that Angela and his son are alive.He abandons his marriage to make a new life with Angela in Europe, running a casino near Monte Carlo. In spite of his family's assistance in fabricating his disappearance, Steven and Angela cannot completely escape the long reach of the Fabrizzis or the shifts of power within the Mafia families. The rich plot keeps percolating to the very end. Reader's Digest Book Club selection. (June)