The book
The Neapolitan Quartet Book One
Now an HBO series: the first volume in the New York Times–bestselling “enduring masterpiece” about a lifelong friendship between two women from Naples (The Atlantic).
Beginning in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Elena Ferrante’s four-volume story spans almost sixty years, as its main characters, the fiery and unforgettable Lila and the bookish narrator, Elena, become women, wives, mothers, and leaders, all the while maintaining a complex and at times conflicted friendship. This first novel in the series follows Lila and Elena from their fateful meeting as ten-year-olds through their school years and adolescence.
Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between two women.
“An intoxicatingly furious portrait of enmeshed friends.”―Entertainment Weekly
“Spectacular.”―Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air
“Captivating.”―The New Yorker
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
- Nov 12 2018
“Phenomenal”
— Literary Hub - Oct 1 2018
“... an amazing description of coming into womanhood.”
— BookRiot - Mar 5 2018
The New Vanguard
— The New York Times - Mar 30 2017
Elena Ferrante Series Coming to HBO
— New York Times - Feb 10 2017
Relationships That Really Matter: 15 Great Books on Female Friendship
— Signature Reads - Dec 15 2016
The Best Books We Read in 2016 That You Still Can Too
— Jezebel