Author(s): Elena Ferrante

Novel | Translated fiction | Western Europe

The story of Elena and Lila begins in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighbourhood on the outskirts of Naples. They learn to rely on each other and discover that their destinies are bound up in the intensity of their relationship. Elena Ferrante's piercingly honest portrait of two girls' path into womanhood is also the story of a nation and a meditation on the nature of friendship itself. My Brilliant Friend is a modern masterpiece, the work of one of Italy's great storytellers.

Review: "Nothing quite like it has ever been published before . . . Brilliant novels, exquisitely translated." -- Meghan O'Rourke * The Guardian *
"Elena Ferrante has established herself as the foremost writer in Italy-and in the world." * The Sunday Times *
"Stunning. An intense, forensic exploration of friendship." * The TLS *
"To the uninitiated, Elena Ferrante is best described as Balzac meets The Sopranos and rewrites feminist theory." * The Times *
"Ferrante's writing seems to say something that hasn't been said before, in a way so compelling its readers forget where they are, abandon friends and disdain sleep." -- Joanna Biggs * LRB *
"A modern classic." * The Times *

Author Biography: Elena Ferrante is the author of The Days of Abandonment (Europa, 2005), Troubling Love (Europa, 2006), The Lost Daughter (Europa, 2008) and the four volumes of 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), published by Europa Editions between 2012 and 2015. She is also the author of a children's picture book illustrated by Mara Cerri, The Beach at Night, and a work of non-fiction, Frantumaglia: A Writer's Journey. Incidental Inventions, her collected Guardian columns, were published in 2019.