The Story of a New Name (Neapolitan Quartet, 2)

 

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 neighbourhood 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 the Neapolitan Quartet, Elena Ferrante gives readers a poignant and universal story about friendship and belonging.

“High-stakes, subversive literature.” -- Catherine Taylor ― The Telegraph

“Elena Ferrante has established herself as the foremost writer in Italy―and in the world.” ― The Sunday Times

“An extraordinary epic.” -- Michiko Kakutani ― The New York Times

“An unconditional masterpiece . . . I was totally enthralled.” -- Jhumpa Lahiri

“The only book ever to make me shout out loud at a revelation in the story.” ― The Guardian

“A beautiful and delicate tale of confluence and reversal.” -- James Wood ― The New Yorker

Elena Ferrante is the author of The Days of Abandonment (Europa, 2005), Troubling Love (Europa, 2006), The Lost Daughter (Europa, 2008) and the four volumes of the Neapolitan Quartet (My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child), published by Europa Editions between 2012 and 2015. She is also the author of a children’s picture book illustrated by Mara Cerri, The Beach at Night, and a work of non-fiction, Frantumaglia: A Writer’s Journey.

Ann Goldstein is one of the most accomplished translators from the Italian working today. Best known for her translations of Elena Ferrante’s oeuvre, she has also brought to Anglo-Saxon readers novels by Primo Levi, Pierpaolo Pasolini, Alessandro Baricco and other classic and contemporary Italian writers.