My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante

A modern masterpiece from one of Italy's most acclaimed authors, this rich, intense, and generous-hearted story gives a meticulous portrait of two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship. n nNow 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). n nBeginning 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. n nThrough 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. n nAn intoxicatingly furious portrait of enmeshed friends.

--Entertainment Weekly n nSpectacular. --Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air n nCaptivating. --The New Yorkern