A BBC 2 Between the Covers Book Club Pick 2021

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

From the author of My Brilliant Friend, a powerful new novel set in a divided Naples

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER Soon to be adapted into a NETFLIX original series

“Incendiary.”—Mail on Sunday

“The most intense writing about the experiences and interior life of a girl on the cusp of adulthood that I have ever read.”–Financial Times

“An astonishing, deeply moving tale.”–The Guardian

“Modern, urgent, truthful.”—The Telegraph

Giovanna’s pretty face has changed: it’s turning into the face of an ugly, spiteful adolescent. But is she seeing things as they really are? Where must she look to find her true reflection and a life she can claim as her own?

Giovanna’s search leads her to two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: the Naples of the heights, which assumes a mask of refinement, and the Naples of the depths, a place of excess and vulgarity. Adrift, she vacillates between these two cities, falling into one then climbing back to the other.

This powerful new novel set in a divided Naples by bestselling author Elena Ferrante is a singular portrayal of the transition from childhood to adolescence to adulthood.

Elena Ferrante
Elena Ferrante is the author of The Days of Abandonment (Europa, 2005), Troubling Love (Europa, 2006), The Lost Daughter (Europa, 2008), and the four novels known as the Neapolitan Quartet (My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child) which were published by Europa Editions between 2012 and 2015. My Brilliant Friend, the HBO series directed by Saverio Costanzo, premiered in 2018. Ferrante is also the author of Frantumaglia: A Writer’s Journey (Europa, 2016), a children’s picture book illustrated by Mara Cerri, The Beach at Night (Europa, 2016), and a collection of personal essays illustrated by Andrea Ucini entitled Incidental Inventions (Europa, 2019). The Lost Daughter will be made into a feature film directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and starring Olivia Colman. Her most recent novel is The Lying Life of Adults (Europa, 2020). In the Margins, a collection of original essays on reading and writing, was published by Europa in 2022.

• Feb 18 2021
  Patricia Lockwood on Elena Ferrante
  — LRB
• Sep 7 2020
  The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante — truth about adolescence
  — The Financial Times
• Sep 3 2020
  Elena Ferrante in The Guardian
  — The Guardian
• Sep 1 2020
  The best books to read this September
  — RED
• Sep 1 2020
  Elena Ferrante’s Master Class on Deceit
  — The Atlantic
• Aug 30 2020
  The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante review – a bracing return to Naples
  — The Observer