DIVORCED FROM THE MOB: My Journey from Organized Crime to Independent Woman

Veteran audiobook narrator Rosenblat delivers the memoir of reformed mob wife Andrea Giovino with energy, zest and a husky Brooklyn accent. Giovino reflects on her life with a mixture of remorse and defiance. Raised in the 1960s in Brooklyn, she did not hesitate to grab for the better life by aligning herself with New York's elite criminals. Giovino's tale is at once brutal and romantic. She tells of nights in glittering clubs, of Staten Island residences and of fur coats, but also of cursing matches between her family and her ex-lovers and washing blood out of her husband's clothes. Rosenblat allows her voice to crack with extreme emotion as Giovino tries to justify some of the immoral choices she's made. Liberally sprinkled with psychological explanations of her actions, Giovino's story becomes increasingly hard to swallow, particularly when she lapses into self-righteousness. Though it may be hard to sympathize with a woman who furnished her lavish lifestyle with drug money, Rosenblat's ironic and earthy performance reveals Giovino's complexity and humanity. Simultaneous release with the Carrol & Graf hardcover (Forecasts, Mar. 8). (Apr.)