Last Supper at Mona Lisa’s

About the Book

Betrayal, revenge, and murder take their seats at an anniversary table. Thirteen guests toast their Sicilian-American hosts, Dante and Lisa Santangelo, as a communion-like Chianti and homemade focaccia suddenly turn bitter on their palates. With cries for help frozen on their faces, all thirteen guests are inexplicably silenced forever. Dante and Carlo Santangelo are left orphaned when their parents are murdered by a local Mafioso Don. The two boys grow into men with different values and personalities. Dante is a charmer who wants revenge on his parents’ murderers. Carlo is the gentle giant and family protector who wants to recapture the simple life he cherished as a child. When the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, Carlo immediately enlists in the military while Dante operates the family pizzeria, sending the brothers down different paths—one to serve and one to seek revenge. As Carlo leaves for battle, he makes one request of Dante: to look after his girlfriend. But neither man has any idea of what lies ahead as the war unfolds and life comes full circle to reveal their destinies. Last Supper at Mona Lisa’s shares the gripping story of two Sicilian-American men orphaned after their parents are murdered by a Mafioso as one fights for his country and the other plots his revenge.

About the Author

Ann Novakov is a Sicilian American born in New Orleans and now living in north Texas because of Hurricane Katrina. She is a retired Spanish teacher with thirty-eight years’ experience in both New Orleans and Texas public high schools and is currently working as a guest educator in a local high school. Last Supper at Mona Lisa’s is her second novel and the first to receive publication. Ann and her husband, George, have two children (Jay and Jaime) and four grandchildren (Christopher, Alexandra, Emilio, and Jackson). Ann’s school family consists of the many students whose lives she’s touched and with whom she is still in contact on a daily basis, especially those students from McDonogh 35 Senior High School in New Orleans, where she taught for thirty years. In Last Supper at Mona Lisa’s, Ann calls upon her and her family’s Italian heritage as a foundation for the novel.