For Sacha and George

It was the summer of 1943. The alied forces were poised to invade Sicily but even the stoutest heart qualed at the thought of the bloody and protracted fighting that would be necessary before they could force their way though the rugged mountains. If the peasants could be included to rise in the revolt against the German occupiers, then the task of the invaders would be immeasurable eased. But only the mafia could call the peasants, and only Antonio Luca could control the Mafia. And Luca's brother had gone to the electric chair in Chicago in 1929, leaving Antonio with a rooted hatred of America and all the things American. So luca's god-daughter Maria, now seeking refuge within a nunnery from the violence that had warped her life; Lucky Luciano, a prince among gangsters on leave of absence of the penitentiary; and Major Harry carter, formerly Calverhouse Professor of Ancient History at the university of Cambridge and now a star of SOE, set out to persuade him to change his mind.