Books · Bless Me, Father

“There are moments in this book, about boxing, about the nature of masculine fear, that are quite unlike anything I’ve ever read or seen or heard.”
— Richard Price, author of Clockers

Set in Greenwich Village in the 1970s and ’80s, it’s the tale of a mob soldier, his surviving son, and the way he betrayed them both. It’s also a love song to New York.

Doubleday · 1995 · 321 pages · Debut novel

Nicky never becomes much of a fighter. Instead, he is cut loose from everything that he knows: his father, his family, his neighborhood, even his confessor, the local priest. Alone, Nicky struggles to come of age. He discovers sex. He discovers the terrible truth of his father and his brother. Nicky Battaglia discovers his own courage and cowardice, until there is enough of his character to defeat the past.

Reminiscent of the work of Pete Dexter and Richard Price, this stunning novel of crime, vengeance, and redemption, set on New York City’s meanest streets, marks the debut of a major new talent.

Doubleday · 1995 · 321 pages

In 1965, a hoodlum from Greenwich Village named Frank Battaglia fought an undercard bout at Madison Square Garden. Everyone from the neighborhood was there to watch Frank, even as he came undone in the ring.

Twenty-one years later, Frank is a swaggering soldier of the mafia. The Village has changed. His family is a ruin. But Frank remains consumed with that night at the Garden, still a bully bent on disproving his shame and his cowardice. Frank wants to remake the world as he believes it should have been, according to his own clichés about tough guys and gangsters. He will stop at nothing, even if it means killing the aging don. Even if it means sacrificing his own sons.

Bless Me, Father is the story of Frank Battaglia and his youngest boy, Nicky. He is sixteen years old and entirely unlike his old man. Nicky Battaglia is grieving over the death of his brother. He is not a tough guy; Nicky wants to play basketball, lose his virginity, and listen to his brother’s collection of sweet soul music.

The problem is, Frank wants Nicky to make amends for his own failures. Frank wants the kid to be a fighter.

About the book

In 1965, a hoodlum from Greenwich Village named Frank Battaglia fought an undercard bout at Madison Square Garden. Everyone from the neighborhood was there to watch Frank, even as he came undone in the ring.

Twenty-one years later, Frank is a swaggering soldier of the mafia. The Village has changed. His family is a ruin. But Frank remains consumed with that night at the Garden, still a bully bent on disproving his shame and his cowardice. Frank wants to remake the world as he believes it should have been, according to his own clichés about tough guys and gangsters. He will stop at nothing, even if it means killing the aging don. Even if it means sacrificing his own sons.

Bless Me, Father is the story of Frank Battaglia and his youngest boy, Nicky. He is sixteen years old and entirely unlike his old man. Nicky Battaglia is grieving over the death of his brother. He is not a tough guy; Nicky wants to play basketball, lose his virginity, and listen to his brother’s collection of sweet soul music.

The problem is, Frank wants Nicky to make amends for his own failures. Frank wants the kid to be a fighter.

Nicky never becomes much of a fighter. Instead, he is cut loose from everything that he knows: his father, his family, his neighborhood, even his confessor, the local priest. Alone, Nicky struggles to come of age. He discovers sex. He discovers the terrible truth of his father and his brother. Nicky Battaglia discovers his own courage and cowardice, until there is enough of his character to defeat the past.

Reminiscent of the work of Pete Dexter and Richard Price, this stunning novel of crime, vengeance, and redemption, set on New York City’s meanest streets, marks the debut of a major new talent.

Doubleday · 1995 · 321 pages

In 1965, a hoodlum from Greenwich Village named Frank Battaglia fought an undercard bout at Madison Square Garden. Everyone from the neighborhood was there to watch Frank, even as he came undone in the ring.

Twenty-one years later, Frank is a swaggering soldier of the mafia. The Village has changed. His family is a ruin. But Frank remains consumed with that night at the Garden, still a bully bent on disproving his shame and his cowardice. Frank wants to remake the world as he believes it should have been, according to his own clichés about tough guys and gangsters. He will stop at nothing, even if it means killing the aging don. Even if it means sacrificing his own sons.

Bless Me, Father is the story of Frank Battaglia and his youngest boy, Nicky. He is sixteen years old and entirely unlike his old man. Nicky Battaglia is grieving over the death of his brother. He is not a tough guy; Nicky wants to play basketball, lose his virginity, and listen to his brother’s collection of sweet soul music.

The problem is, Frank wants Nicky to make amends for his own failures. Frank wants the kid to be a fighter.

Nicky never becomes much of a fighter. Instead, he is cut loose from everything that he knows: his father, his family, his neighborhood, even his confessor, the local priest. Alone, Nicky struggles to come of age. He discovers sex. He discovers the terrible truth of his father and his brother. Nicky Battaglia discovers his own courage and cowardice, until there is enough of his character to defeat the past.

Reminiscent of the work of Pete Dexter and Richard Price, this stunning novel of crime, vengeance, and redemption, set on New York City’s meanest streets, marks the debut of a major new talent.

Doubleday · 1995 · 321 pages
About the book

In 1965, a hoodlum from Greenwich Village named Frank Battaglia fought an undercard bout at Madison Square Garden. Everyone from the neighborhood was there to watch Frank, even as he came undone in the ring.

Twenty-one years later, Frank is a swaggering soldier of the mafia. The Village has changed. His family is a ruin. But Frank remains consumed with that night at the Garden, still a bully bent on disproving his shame and his cowardice. Frank wants to remake the world as he believes it should have been, according to his own clichés about tough guys and gangsters. He will stop at nothing, even if it means killing the aging don. Even if it means sacrificing his own sons.

Bless Me, Father is the story of Frank Battaglia and his youngest boy, Nicky. He is sixteen years old and entirely unlike his old man. Nicky Battaglia is grieving over the death of his brother. He is not a tough guy; Nicky wants to play basketball, lose his virginity, and listen to his brother’s collection of sweet soul music.

The problem is, Frank wants Nicky to make amends for his own failures. Frank wants the kid to be a fighter.

Nicky never becomes much of a fighter. Instead, he is cut loose from everything that he knows: his father, his family, his neighborhood, even his confessor, the local priest. Alone, Nicky struggles to come of age. He discovers sex. He discovers the terrible truth of his father and his brother. Nicky Battaglia discovers his own courage and cowardice, until there is enough of his character to defeat the past.

Reminiscent of the work of Pete Dexter and Richard Price, this stunning novel of crime, vengeance, and redemption, set on New York City’s meanest streets, marks the debut of a major new talent.

From the reporting

The novel grew out of a front-page New York Post column Kriegel wrote about trainer Teddy Atlas, Sammy “the Bull” Gravano and Gravano’s son.

Read the column →
The verdict
“Here is a fresh new voice in American writing, enriched by the street, full of laughter and a sense of tragedy. His eye is sharp, his ear acute; more important, his characters live and breathe. This is a wonderful debut.”
— Pete Hamill, author of A Drinking Life
“A terrific first novel… Mark Kriegel’s years on the gritty streets of New York pay off handsomely from the opening page of Bless Me, Father, where he launches us into a brutally tough world, seen through the eyes of a sensitive young protagonist.”
— Vincent Patrick, author of The Pope of Greenwich Village
Reviews
Los Angeles Times “De-sentimentalized, deglamorized, mesmerizing, original. Has the power of Mean Streets or any of the dark, originating novels of film noir. It explores the world Martin Scorsese has captured on film. We have been on these particular mean streets often before, but never with quite the same sad and unsparing clarity of vision.”
The New Yorker “Displays a thrilling knowledge of the finer points of fighting, and skillfully conveys the sense of a faded past embedded in the present.”

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