My Brilliant Friend is simply the beginning of the story, which shows the journey the two children take as they grow into adults. Not only this, but the author also manages to give the reader an understanding of the conditions faced during those difficult times, including domestic violence and class conflict, even if the reader has had no direct experience of these types of conditions. It is done so in a way which makes the reader thirsty to find out more. The author really defines the friendship between the two girls and how much they rely on each other. The book has proved to be a popular read due to the fact that it is easy to relate to. Without giving too much away, there are definitely some ‘interesting’ characters to be found throughout the novel, some of which are far from straight laced. The story quite precisely depicts the way the girls need to cope with a damaged upbringing due to the way the adults around them behave, at a time of extreme political and economic developments. Elena and Lila are both living in the 1970’s, in a time when the neighbourhood is still learning to cope with the aftermath of the war and living in a time of poverty. The book takes place in Naples in Italy and is an insightful fiction novel which really ventures into the complexities of friendships, even from a very young age. The story of the first novel is centred on two main characters, Elena and Lila who are around six years old. The series kicks off with ‘My Brilliant Friend’, which introduces the story and the characters. The fourth book in the series, The Story of the Lost Child was released in 2015 and was listed in the top 10 Best Books of 2015 in the New York Times, as well as being nominated for the Strega Prize. The author has been reported as saying that it is in fact just one novel but due to the length, it had to be split into a series. The series was translated from Italian to English by Ann Goldstein and there are four books within the series.

It is thought that she is female, but no-one really knows for sure Elena is just used as the pen-name.Įlena has enjoyed huge success with her novels, of which there are only a handful and the Neapolitan series is no different. Elena is a very private author and in fact, no one knows the true identity of the anonymous writer. Neapolitan is a 4 part series of novels from Elena Ferrante an Italian author from Naples.