My Brilliant Friend

The first of four novels in the already cult, worldwide “Neapolitan cycle” by Elena Ferrante is the story of two friends, Lenu and Lila, living in the 1950s in one of the poor neighborhoods of Naples. Their childhood and youth pass on harsh streets, where the girls learn in every circumstance to rely on nothing but each other. Years go by. Lenu and Lila’s paths keep separating and then coming back together, but they remain best friends—the kind where one girl’s life reflects and refracts into the fate of the other.

Through the story of Lila and Lenu, Ferrante tells of dramatic changes in the life of the neighborhood, the city, the country—from fascism and the mafia’s dominance to the flourishing of the communist movement—and how these changes affect the relationship between the heroines—unforgettable Lenu and Lila.