About the Book
The follow-up to My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name continues the epic New York Times bestselling literary quartet that has inspired an HBO series, and returns us to the world of Lila and Elena, who grew up together in post-WWII Naples, Italy.
In The Story of a New Name, Lila has recently married and made her entrée into the family business; Elena, meanwhile, continues her studies and her exploration of the world beyond the neighborhood that she so often finds stifling. Marriage appears to have imprisoned Lila, and the pressure to excel is at times too much for Elena. Yet the two young women share a complex and evolving bond that is central to their emotional lives and a source of strength in the face of life's challenges.
In these Neapolitan Novels, Elena Ferrante, "one of the great novelists of our time" (New York Times), gives us a poignant and universal story about friendship and belonging, a meditation on love and jealousy, freedom and commitment--at once a masterfully plotted page-turner and an intense, generous-hearted family saga.
About the Author :
Elena Ferrante, author of The Days of Abandonment, Troubling Love, and My Brilliant Friend, among others, is one of Italy's most important and acclaimed contemporary writers. She was named one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2016 by Time.
ELENA FERRANTE is the author of The Days of Abandonment (Europa, 2005), which was made into a film directed by Roberto Faenza, Troubling Love (Europa, 2006), adapted by Mario Martone, and The Lost Daughter (Europa, 2008), soon to be a film directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. She is also the author of Frantumaglia: A Writer's Journey (Europa, 2016) in which she recounts her experience as a novelist, and a children's picture book illustrated by Mara Cerri, The Beach at Night (Europa, 2016). The four volumes known as 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) were published in America by Europa between 2012 and 2015. The first season of the HBO series My Brilliant Friend, directed by Saverio Costanzo, premiered in 2018.
ANN GOLDSTEIN has translated into English all of Elena Ferrante's books, including the New York Times bestseller, The Story of the Lost Child, which was shortlisted for the MAN Booker International Prize. She has been honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship and is the recipient of the PEN Renato Poggioli Translation Award. She lives in New York. "Hillary has recorded close to 700 audiobooks spanning many genres. She is a multiple Audie Award finalist, multiple Earphone Award winner, Voice Arts Awards winner and one of Audiofile Magazine's best voices. Hillary has a BA in English Literature and is a voracious reader and listener. Likes: yoga, hip hop dancing, baking sourdough, bourbon. Dislikes: liver. Raised in conservative Connecticut and hippy Hawaii, Hillary now splits her time between Santa Monica and New York. Most of that time is in a 4x4 padded room. Er...booth. Her superpower is reciting the alphabet backwards.
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Review :
"A beautifully written portrait of a sometimes difficult friendship."
-- "Kirkus Reviews"
"Ferrante masterfully combines Elena's recollections of events with Lila's point of view...The women's fraught relationship and shifting fortunes are the life forces of this poignant book."
-- "Publishers Weekly"
"Ferrante's gift for recreating real life stems as much from the quiet, unhurried rhythm of her writing as from the people and events she describes."
-- "New York Times"
"Ferrante's writing is captivating and insightful."
-- "Booklist (starred review)"
"I am utterly caught up by the furious narrative energy and the constantly shifting currents of power and desire between the narrator, Elena, and her brilliant, unpredictable, sometimes vicious best friend, Lila, whose actions seem to keep undermining Elena's command of the story, even though she's the one telling."
-- "Jennifer Schuessler, culture reporter, New York Times Book Review"
"Imagine an angry Jane Austen, and you'll get a sense of what it's like to plunge into Ferrante's ongoing tale about Lila and Elena, two Neapolitan women in the 1960s who marry, fall in love, and slowly suffocate from the pressure of it all."
-- "Boston Globe"
