Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay: Book Three of The The Neapolitan Novels

Part of the bestselling saga about childhood friends following different paths by “one of the great novelists of our time” ( The New York Times ). In the third book in the New York Times –bestselling Neapolitan quartet that inspired the HBO series My Brilliant Friend , Elena and Lila have grown into womanhood. Lila married at sixteen and has a young son; she has left her husband and the comforts her marriage brought and now works as a common laborer. Elena has left the neighborhood, earned her college degree, and published a successful novel, all of which has opened the doors to a world of learned interlocutors and richly furnished salons. Both women are pushing against the walls of a prison that would have seen them living a life of misery, ignorance, and submission. They are afloat on the great sea of opportunities that opened up for women during the 1970s. And yet, they are still very much bound to each other in a book that “shows off Ferrante’s strong storytelling ability and will leave readers eager for the final volume of the series” ( Library Journal ). “One of modern fiction’s richest portraits of a friendship.” —NPR Care lettrici, cari lettori, provate a leggere questo libro e vorrete che non finisca mai. Elena Ferrante, con il suo nuovo romanzo, torna a sorprenderci, a spiazzarci, regalandoci una narrazione-fiume cui ci si affida come quando si fa un viaggio con un tale piacevole agio, con un tale intenso coinvolgimento, che la meta più è lontana e meglio è. L’autrice abbandona la piccola, densa storia privata e si dedica a un vasto progetto di scrittura che racconta un’amicizia femminile, quella tra Lila Cerullo ed Elena Greco, dall’infanzia a Napoli negli anni Cinquanta del secolo scorso fino a oggi. L’amica geniale comincia seguendo le due protagoniste bambine, e poi adolescenti, tra le quinte di un rione miserabile della periferia napoletana, tra una folla di personaggi minori accompagnati lungo il loro percorso con attenta assiduità. L’autrice scava intanto nella natura complessa dell’amicizia tra due bambine, tra due ragazzine, tra due donne, seguendo passo passo la loro crescita individuale, il modo di influenzarsi reciprocamente, i buoni e i cattivi sentimenti che nutrono nei decenni un rapporto vero, robusto. Narra poi gli effetti dei cambiamenti che investono il rione, Napoli, l’Italia, in più di un cinquantennio, trasformando le amiche e il loro legame. E tutto ciò precipita nella pagina con l’andamento delle grandi narrazioni popolari, dense e insieme veloci, profonde e lievi, rovesciando di continuo situazioni, svelando fondi segreti dei personaggi, sommando evento a evento senza tregua, ma con la profondità e la potenza di voce a cui l’autrice ci ha abituati... Non vogliamo dirvi altro per non guastare il piacere della lettura. Dicevamo che L’amica geniale appartiene a quel genere di libro che si vorrebbe non finisse mai. E infatti non finisce. O, per dire meglio, porta compiutamente a termine in questo primo romanzo la narrazione dell’infanzia e dell’adolescenza di Lila e di Elena, ma ci lascia sulla soglia di nuovi grandi mutamenti che stanno per sconvolgere le loro vite e il loro intensissimo rapporto. La storia si dipana nei volumi successivi, per raccontarci la giovinezza, la maturità, la vecchiaia incipiente delle due amiche. Godiamoci dunque anche questo altro tratto, che è costitutivo del vero lettore: il piacere assaporato e poi dilazionato, l’attesa del seguito, la speranza, tra le tante amarezze di oggi, di un po’ di dolce nel prossimo futuro. Buona lettura, Gli editori ([source][1]) [1]: https://www.edizionieo.it/book/9788866320326/l-amica-geniale In 2012, Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend introduced readers to the unforgettable Elena and Lila, whose lifelong friendship provides the backbone for the Neapolitan Novels. The Story of a New Name is the second book in this series. With these books, which the New Yorker’s James Wood described as “large, captivating, amiably peopled...a beautiful and delicate tale of confluence and reversal,” Ferrante proves herself to be one of Italy’s most accomplished storytellers. She writes vividly about a specific neighborhood of Naples from the late-1950s through to the current day and about two remarkable young women who are very much the products of that place and time. Yet in doing so she has created a world in which readers will recognize themselves and has drawn a marvelously nuanced portrait of friendship. 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. Love, jealousy, family, freedom, commitment, and above all friendship: these are signs under which both women live out this phase in their stories. 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 is a source of strength in the face of life’s challenges. In these Neapolitan Novels, Elena Ferrante, the acclaimed author of The Days of Abandonment, gives readers a poignant and universal story about friendship and belonging. ([source](https://www.europaeditions.co.uk/book/9781609451349/the-story-of-a-new-name)) OVER 14M OF THE NEAPOLITAN QUARTET SOLD WORLDWIDE'Nothing quite like this has ever been published before.'—The Guardian'This is high stakes, subversive literature.'—The Daily Telegraph'With the publication of her Neapolitan Novels, (Ferrante) has established herself as the foremost writer in Italy—and the world.'—The Sunday Times'An unconditional masterpiece... I was totally enthralled.'—Jhumpa Lahiri'An extraordinary epic.'—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times'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.'—London Review of Books'Stunning. An intense, forensic exploration of friendship.'—The Times Literary Supplement Set in the late 1960s and the 1970s, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay continues the story of the feisty and rebellious Lila and her lifelong friend, the brilliant and bookish Elena. Lila, after separating from her husband, is living with her young son in a new neighbourhood of Naples and working at a local factory. Elena has left Naples, earned a degree from an elite college, and published a novel, all of which has opened the doors to a world of learned and fascinating interlocutors. The era, with its dramatic changes in sexual politics and social costumes, with its seemingly limitless number of new possibilities, is rendered with breathtaking vigour. This third Neapolitan Novel is not only a moving story of friendship but also a searing portrait of a rapidly changing world.

A modern masterpiece from one of Italy’s most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense, and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante’s inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship. The story begins in the 1950s, in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets the two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else. As they grow, as their paths repeatedly diverge and converge, Elena and Lila remain best friends whose respective destinies are reflected and refracted in the other. They are likewise the embodiments of a nation undergoing momentous change. 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 her protagonists, the unforgettable Elena and Lila. Ferrante is the author of three previous works of critically acclaimed fiction: The Days of Abandonment, Troubling Love, and The Lost Daughter. With this novel, the first in a trilogy, she proves herself to be one of Italy’s great storytellers. She has given her readers a masterfully plotted page-turner, abundant and generous in its narrative details and characterizations, that is also a stylish work of literary fiction destined to delight her many fans and win new readers to her fiction.

A novel in the bestselling quartet about two very different women and their complex friendship: “Everyone should read anything with Ferrante's name on it” (The Boston Globe). 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” (The 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. “Imagine if Jane Austen got angry and you'll have some idea of how explosive these works are.” —The Australian “Brilliant... captivating and insightful... the richness of her storytelling is likely to please fans of Sara Gruen and Silvia Avallone.” —Booklist (starred review) The incredible story continues in book three of the critically acclaimed Neapolitan Novels! Since the publication of My Brilliant Friend, the first of the Neapolitan novels, Elena Ferrante's fame as one of our most compelling, insightful, and stylish contemporary authors has grown enormously. She has gained admirers among authors?Jhumpa Lahiri, Elizabeth Strout, Claire Messud, to name a few?and critics?James Wood, John Freeman, Eugenia Williamson, for example. But her most resounding success has undoubtedly been with readers, who have discovered in Ferrante a writer who speaks with great power and beauty of the mysteries of belonging, human relationships, love, family, and friendship. In this third Neapolitan novel, Elena and Lila, the two girls whom readers first met in My Brilliant Friend, have become women. Lila married at sixteen and has a young son; she has left her husband and the comforts her marriage brought and now works as a common laborer. Elena has left the neighborhood, earned her college degree, and published a successful novel, all of which has opened the doors to a world of learned interlocutors and richly furnished salons. Both women have attempted are pushing against the walls of a prison that would have seen them living a life of misery, ignorance and submission. They are afloat on the great sea of opportunities that opened up during the nineteen-seventies. Yet they are still very much bound to each other by a strong, unbreakable bond Prvi del neapeljske tetralogije se začenja v petdestiih letih 20. stoletja in spremlja otroštvo dveh izjemnih deklet, Line in Elene. Zgodbo uokvirja izginotje šestinšestdesetletne Line, kar vzpodbudi Eleno, da jo s popisom njunih življenj, izzove k vrnitvi. V prvem planu se skozi Elenino pripoved odvija zgodba o odraščanju in tesnem prijateljstvu, ki povezuje neukrotljivo genialnost Line z odgovorno vztrajnostjo Elene, prijateljstvo, ki izmenično poživlja in bremeni. Dekleti, ki se že zgodaj zavesta svojega položaja znotraj družine in družbe, obsojenosti na polizobrazbo ter zasedanje vnaprej določenih vlog, si izborita vsaka svoje področje, ki bi jima lahko omogočilo prevzeti življenje v svoje roke - Elena izkoristi priložnost nadaljevanja šolanja, Lina pa se mora usmeriti v iskanje priložnosti na trgu z izdelovanjem edinstvenih čevljev. Delo je pisano izjemno berljivo, z navidezno lahkotnostjo pa nam odkriva več ravni zgodbe. Čeprav se intenzivnost pripovedi, ki se stopnjuje v Dnevih zavrženosti, porazgubi in se koncentrira le okoli nekaterih ključnih dogodkov, ga z zgodnejšim delom druži lucidna, do junakinj nepopustljiva (samo)analiza. Poleg osrednjih dogodkov v otroštvu, ki jih Ferrante spretno niza in vanje prepleta življenja prebivalcev neapeljske soseske, se nam v ozadju sestavlja širši kontekst odraščanja, boja za preživetje in uveljavitev znotraj nasilja soseske, ki kljub lokalnim izrazom agresivnosti, odraža razmerja sil sveta zunaj nje. OVER 5 MILLION COPIES SOLD IN ENGLISH WORLDWIDE OVER 1 MILLION COPIES SOLD IN THE UK 14 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE THE NEW YORK TIMES'#1 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY THE NEW YORK TIMES'#8 READERS'LIST BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY THE GUARDIAN'S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY HBO TV SERIES 58 WEEKS ON THE BOOKSELLER'S TOP 20 ORIGINAL FICTION BESTSELLERS LIST SHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2015 43 INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS DEALS Now in B-format Paperback From one of Italy's most acclaimed authors, comes this ravishing and generous-hearted novel about a friendship that lasts a lifetime. The story of Elena and Lila begins in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighbourhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets the two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else, as their friendship, beautifully and meticulously rendered, becomes a not always perfect shelter from hardship. Ferrante has created a memorable portrait of two women, but My Brilliant Friend is also the story of a nation. Through the lives of Elena and Lila, Ferrante gives her readers the story of a city and a country undergoing momentous change.'Nothing quite like it has ever been published.'- Guardian'Elena Ferrante has established herself as the foremost writer in Italy - and the world.'- The Sunday Times'This is high stakes, subversive literature.'- The Telegraph Since the publication of My Brilliant Friend, the first of the Neapolitan novels, Elena Ferrante's fame as one of our most compelling, insightful, and stylish contemporary authors has grown enormously. She has gained admirers among authors--Jhumpa Lahiri, Elizabeth Strout, Claire Messud, to name a few--and critics--James Wood, John Freeman, Eugenia Williamson, for example. But her most resounding success has undoubtedly been with readers, who have discovered in Ferrante a writer who speaks with great power and beauty of the mysteries of belonging, human relationships, love, family, and friendship. In this third Neapolitan novel, Elena and Lila, the two girls whom eaders first met in My Brilliant Friend, have become women. Lila married at sixteen and has a young son; she has left her husband and the comforts of her marriage brought and now works as a common laborer. Elena has left the neighborhood, earned her college degree, and published a successful novel, all of which has opened the doors to a world of learned interlocutors and richly furnished salons. Both women have attempted are pushing against the walls of a prison that would have seem them living a life of mystery, ignorance and submission. They are afloat on the great sea of opportunities that opened up during the nineteen-seventies. Yet they are still very much bound to see each other by a strong, unbreakable bond Soon To Be An Hbo Series, Book Three In The New York Times Bestselling Neapolitan Quartet About Two Friends In Post-war Italy Is A Rich, Intense, And Generous-hearted Epic By One Of Today's Most Beloved And Acclaimed Writers, Elena Ferrante, “one Of The Great Novelists Of Our Time.” (roxana Robinson, The New York Times) In The Third Book In The Neapolitan Quartet, Elena And Lila, The Two Girls Whom Readers First Met In My Brilliant Friend, Have Become Women. Lila Married At Sixteen And Has A Young Son; She Has Left Her Husband And The Comforts Her Marriage Brought And Now Works As A Common Laborer. Elena Has Left The Neighborhood, Earned Her College Degree, And Published A Successful Novel, All Of Which Has Opened The Doors To A World Of Learned Interlocutors And Richly Furnished Salons. Both Women Are Pushing Against The Walls Of A Prison That Would Have Seen Them Living A Life Of Misery, Ignorance And Submission. They Are Afloat On The Great Sea Of Opportunities That Opened Up During The Nineteen-seventies. Yet They Are Still Very Much Bound To Each Other By A Strong, Unbreakable Bond. Ferrante Is One Of The World’s Great Storytellers. With The Neapolitan Quartet She Has Given Her Readers An Abundant, Generous, And Masterfully Plotted Page-turner That Is Also A Stylish Work Of Literary Fiction Destined To Delight Readers For Many Generations To Come. Overview: A modern masterpiece from one of Italy's most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense, and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante' s inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship. The story begins in the 1950s, in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets the two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else. As they grow, as their paths repeatedly diverge and converge, Elena and Lila remain best friends whose respective destinies are reflected and refracted in the other. They are likewise the embodiments of a nation undergoing momentous change. 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 her protagonists, the unforgettable Elena and Lila Named the #1 Book of the 21st Century by the New York Times: The “enduring classic” about the lifelong friendship of 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 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. “An intoxicatingly furious portrait of enmeshed friends.” —Entertainment Weekly “Spectacular.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air “Captivating.” —The New YorkerBasis for the HBO series In this third Neapolitan novel, Elena and Lila, the two girls whom readers first met in My Brilliant Friend , have become women. Lila married at sixteen and has a young son; she has left her abusive husband and now works as a common laborer. Elena has left the neighborhood, earned her college degree, and published a successful novel, all of which have opened the doors to a world of learned interlocutors and richly furnished salons. Both women have pushed against the walls of a prison that would have seen them living a life of misery, ignorance, and submission. They are afloat on the great sea of opportunities that opened up during the nineteen-seventies. Yet they are still very much bound to each other by a strong, unbreakable bond. From one of Italy's most acclaimed authors, comes this ravishing and generous-hearted novel about a friendship that lasts a lifetime. The story of Elena and Lila begins in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets the two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else, as their friendship, beautifully and meticulously rendered, becomes a not always perfect shelter from hardship. Ferrante has created a memorable portrait of two women, but My Brilliant Friend is also the story of a nation. Through the lives of Elena and Lila, Ferrante gives her readers the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country undergoing momentous change. --front flap The Second Book, Following Last Year's My Brilliant Friend, Featuring The Two Friends Lila And Elena. The Two Protagonists Are Now In Their Twenties. Marriage Appears To Have Imprisoned Lila. Meanwhile, Elena Continues Her Journey Of Self-discovery. The Two Young Women Share A Complex And Evolving Bond That Brings Them Close At Times, And Drives Them Apart At Others. Each Vacillates Between Hurtful Disregard And Profound Love For The Other. With This Complicated And Meticulously Portrayed Friendship At The Center Of Their Emotional Lives, The Two Girls Mature Into Women, Paying The Cruel Price That This Passage Exacts. Elena Ferrante ; Translated From The Italian By Ann Goldstein. Friends Lila and Elena are now in their twenties. Marriage appears to have imprisoned Lila. Meanwhile, Elena continues her journey of self-discovery. The two young women share a complex and evolving bond that brings them close at times, and drives them apart at others. Each vacillates between hurtful disregard and profound love for the other. With this complicated and meticulously portrayed friendship at the center of their emotional lives, the two girls mature into women, paying the cruel price that this passage exacts. --back cover Érase una vez dos niñas, Lenù y Lila, que nacieron en 1944 en un barrio pobre de la ciudad de Nápoles. Lila se casó muy joven con el hombre más adinerado del barrio y poco tardó en dejarlo. Elena, en cambio, ha continuado con los estudios e incluso ha escrito una novela. Así, a primera vista, nada une ya a las dos amigas, pero el barrio de Nápoles donde fueron niñas aún las reclama, las viejas costumbres las devuelven a un tiempo que ya se fue, y el peso de las emociones se cobre su precio. Prologue : eliminating all the traces Childhood : the story of Don Achille Adolescence : the story of the shoes.