The Neapolitan Novels - Book 1
My Brilliant Friend
“One of the more nuanced portraits of feminine friendship in recent memory.”
Vogue
A BuzzFeed Books Pick for Life Changing Books to Read with Your Mom
BookPage Top Pick for Binge-Reading a Series
A 2018 New York Times Pick of the New Vanguard in Fiction
A Bustle Pick of 12 Modern Books That Will Become Classics
An Electric Literature Pick of 9 Toxic Friendships in Literature
A Literary Hub Pick of the Best Translated Novels of the Decade
An Amazon Editor’s Top Pick of Book Series to Binge On
A Harper’s Bazaar Pick of Books You Should Read before Visiting Their Country
A London Guardian Pick of Best Books of the 21st Century
A Time Magazine Top 10 Book of the Decade in Fiction
A Town & Country Magazine Pick of 17 Best Books of the Decade
A New York Public Library Staff Pick of Favorite Books of the Last 125 Years
An Audible Editors Top Pick of Best Audiobooks Now a TV Show
Now an HBO series: the first volume in the New York Times bestselling "enduring masterpiece" (The Atlantic) about a lifelong friendship between two women from Naples
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.
Praise