The Story of the Lost Child

By Elena Ferrante

Book Overview

A BEST BOOK OF THE CENTURY - NEW YORK TIMES

The "stunning conclusion" to the bestselling saga of the fierce lifelong bond between two women, from a gritty Naples childhood through old age (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

The Story of the Lost Child concludes the dazzling saga of two women, the brilliant, bookish Elena and the fiery, uncontainable Lila, who first met amid the shambles of postwar Italy. In this book, life's great discoveries have been made; its vagaries and losses have been suffered. Through it all, the women's friendship remains the gravitational center of their lives.

Both women once fought to escape the neighborhood in which they grew up. Elena married, moved to Florence, started a family, and published several well-received books. But now, she has returned to Naples to be with the man she has always loved. Lila, on the other hand, never succeeded in freeing herself from Naples. She has become a successful entrepreneur, but her success draws her into closer proximity with the nepotism, chauvinism, and criminal violence that infect her neighborhood. Yet, somehow, this proximity to a world she has always rejected only brings her role as unacknowledged leader of that world into relief.

"Lila is a magnificent character."--The Atlantic

"Everyone should read anything with Ferrante's name on it." --The Boston Globe

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B01H7LZ4M8
• ISBN13: 9781609452865
• Release Date: September 2015
• Publisher: Europa Editions
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 5.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Disappointing (Spoiler)

I've read the entire series of four books now. It was sad and depressing to see how everyone turned out as adults. I feel as I've known the characters since they were young children through their old age and was saddened to see how they all turned out. One particular thing in the book was deeply disturbing and unresolved. I hope and I think a lot of readers would like to see her come out with a fifth book to the series to finalize it.