The Family is a 2001 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by Mario Puzo

Mario Puzo

Mario Gianluigi Puzo was an American author and screenwriter, known for his novels about the Mafia, including The Godfather , which he later co-adapted into a film by Francis Ford Coppola...

.

The novel is about Pope Alexander VI

Pope Alexander VI

Pope Alexander VI , born Roderic Llançol i Borja was Pope from 1492 until his death on 18 August 1503. He is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, and his Italianized surname—Borgia—became a byword for the debased standards of the Papacy of that era, most notoriously the Banquet...

 and his family. Puzo spent over twenty years working on the book off and on, while he wrote others. It was finished by his longtime girlfriend, Carol Gino. Effectively his last novel.

Plot introduction

The book has a factual core, with fictional events used to create the unknown aspects of Pope Alexander VI, formerly Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, and his family's life. Many of its characters were real people, including Niccolò Machiavelli

Niccolò Machiavelli

Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian historian, philosopher, humanist, and writer based in Florence during the Renaissance. He is one of the main founders of modern political science. He was a diplomat, political philosopher, playwright, and a civil servant of the Florentine Republic...

, Duarte Brandão

Sir Edward Brampton

Sir Edward Brampton was the Governor of Guernsey, a knight, adventurer, ship commander and the godson and protege of King Edward IV of England.-Origins:...

 and members of the Borgia Family.

Summary

The book follows the life of Pope Alexander VI and his family, but mostly the lives of two of his children, Lucrezia and Cesare. From the very beginning of the novel, Alexander seems to be doing everything in light of god, but many of his actions are debatable. In order to save Lucrezia from losing her virginity to a stranger, he has her bed her brother, Cesare. The Pope gives his reasons and states this is the best for his daughter. As the book continues, many more debatable actions are continued.