The Story of a New Name

The second part of the four-volume “Neapolitan quartet,” which has won worldwide popularity, continues the story of Lenu Greco and Lila Cerullo. The friends grow up; their life paths diverge with relentless force. They still strive to break out of the dreariness and poverty of Naples’s outskirts, but each chooses her own road. Impulsive Lila becomes Signora Caracci; wealth and a new name force her to disown the self she was yesterday—leaving behind the daring, talented girl who had been promising so much. Lenu, meanwhile, continues studying, trying to prove to herself that she can succeed even without her genius friend.

Stuffy backstreets of Naples, entertainments-filled Ischia, university Pisa… In different settings, life will once again test the friendship between Lila and Lenu, and time and again they’ll come to realize that no one—ever—can break the thread that bound them in childhood.