The book
Full-color illustrations by Mara Cerri
Left alone on the beach to fend for herself, a doll named Celina is having a terrible night. The Mean Beach Attendant of Sunset is trying to steal all her words, the Fire wants to burn her, and the Sea refuses to answer her prayers. Worst of all, she has been abandoned by her mamma, the little girl Mati, who now has a new kitten to play with. Between one misadventure and another, night turns to day, and when the sun rises Celina will see everything a little more clearly.
The Beach at Night is a short, moving, and mysterious tale for future and present readers of Ferrante’s beloved novels.
The author
Elena Ferrante
Elena Ferrante is the author of The Days of Abandonment (Europa, 2005), Troubling Love (Europa, 2006), and The Lost Daughter (Europa, 2008), now a film directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and starring Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, and Jessie Buckley. She is also the author of Incidental Inventions (Europa, 2019), illustrated by Andrea Ucini; Frantumaglia: A Writer’s Journey (Europa, 2016); and a children’s picture book illustrated by Mara Cerri, The Beach at Night (Europa, 2016). The four volumes known as the “Neapolitan novels” (My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child) were published by Europa Editions in English between 2012 and 2015. My Brilliant Friend, the HBO series directed by Saverio Costanzo, premiered in 2018. The adaptation of Ferrante’s most recent novel, The Lying Life of Adults (Europa, 2020), debuted on Netflix in 2023.
Press
- Dec 6 2016
Best Books of 2016
— NPR - Dec 2 2016
"...[an] unnerving little gem."
— Sydney Morning Herald - Nov 23 2016
Books of the Year 2016
— The Times Literary Supplement - Oct 29 2016
"Mara Cerri’s illustrations are weird and wonderful in this peculiar tale of loss and rediscovery..."
— Times of London - Oct 13 2016
"Celina’s tale is powerfully told and complex."
— Washington Post - Oct 12 2016
"...a small delight"
— The New York Times