My Brilliant Friend (The Neapolitan Quartet Book 1)

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 & unforgettable Lila & the bookish narrator, Elena, become women, wives, mothers, & leaders, all the while maintaining a complex & at times conflicted friendship. 

This first novel in the series follows Lila & Elena from their fateful meeting as ten-year-olds through their school years & adolescence. Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, & a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between the two women.

“An intoxicatingly furious portrait of enmeshed friends.” ―Entertainment Weekly

“Spectacular.” ―Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air

“Captivating.” ―The New Yorker