Description
About the book
Much as Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels have become a publishing juggernaut, it is impossible not to read the saga of two best friends’ fitful journeys through post-war Italy without a sense of intimacy and deep emotional connection. Luminously written and expertly translated, My Brilliant Friend begins the epic bildungsroman not just of Elena and Lila but of the Italian nation itself.
Now a major Sky Atlantic series
We were twelve years old, but we walked along the hot streets of the neighbourhood, amid the dust and flies that the occasional old trucks stirred up as they passed, like two old ladies taking the measure of lives of disappointment, clinging tightly to each other. No one understood us, only we two—I thought—understood one another.
The story begins in the 1950s, in a poor but vibrant neighbourhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets the two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else. As they grow, as their paths repeatedly diverge and converge, Elena and Lila remain best friends whose respective destinies are reflected and refracted in the other.
They are likewise the embodiments of a nation undergoing momentous change. Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighbourhood, a city, and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between her protagonists, the unforgettable Elena and Lila.
Publisher: Europa Editions
Released: 11th October, 2012
