A BBC 2 Between the Covers Book Club Pick 2021

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

From the author of My Brilliant Friend, a powerful new novel set in a divided Naples

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER Soon to be adapted into a NETFLIX original series

"Incendiary." - Mail on Sunday

"The most intense writing about the experiences and interior life of a girl on the cusp of adulthood that I have ever read."-Financial Times

"An astonishing, deeply moving tale."-The Guardian

"Modern, urgent, truthful."-The Telegraph

Giovanna's pretty face has changed: it's turning into the face of an ugly, spiteful adolescent. But is she seeing things as they really are? Where must she look to find her true reflection and a life she can claim as her own?

Giovanna's search leads her to two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: the Naples of the heights, which assumes a mask of refinement, and the Naples of the depths, a place of excess and vulgarity. Adrift, she vacillates between these two cities, falling into one then climbing back to the other.

This powerful new novel set in a divided Naples by bestselling author Elena Ferrante is a singular portrayal of the transition from childhood to adolescence to adulthood.