The Family

The book The Family is about a Cardinal by the name of Rodrigo Borgia in fifteenth century Italy, who has many secrets in his life. One of them happens to be that he cheated to win the elections to become the new Pope. The other big secret is that he has children. When a person is in a ranking such as a Cardinal or Pope, he is not supposed to have children. He should keep it a secret by calling his sons his nephews and his daughter his niece as other Popes are known to do, but he refuses to. Rodrigo isn't all bad though; he has a reason for his actions. He wanted to become Pope so he could restore the Catholic Church and bring back the glory Italy once had. he also wanted to begin a family dynasty.

Once Rodrigo became the Pope, problems arose. He first made his son Cesare Cardinal so he could follow in his father's footsteps.

Detail of fresco Resurrection in the Borgia Apartm...

Pope Alexander VI. (Rodrigo Borgia) Detail from a ...

1st third of 16th century

Having to take the position Cesare was not content. Cesar did not want to become the Cardinal nor follow in his fathers footseps. He wanted to become a warrior and that is what he believed he was to be. After that Rodrigo Borgia forces the rest of his family to marry noble family in France and Spain to further spread his power. Peasants and kings alike begin to seek the blessings of the Pope, but others, jealouse of his power, begin to devise a plot against him.

The main characters in the story are Rodrigo Borgia, Jofre, Juan, Lucrezia, and Cesare. Rodrigo is a Cardinal soon to be Pope that wants nothing but the best for his family at any cost, even if that means cheating and forcing marriage. Jofre is one of Rodrigo's sons. Jofre is very...