The second in the Neapolitan Novels series by evasive Italian author Elena Ferrante,The Story of a New Name elicited the Guardian to dub Ferrante a'writer of the unsayable'.
It continues her sweeping telling of the tangled,complicated friendship between Elena Greco and Lina Cerullo,which began in 1950s Naples in the pages of My Brilliant Friend,before closing with Lina's rejection of further education to get married at age 16. This and the other two books in the series are narrated by Elena - or Lenú - who grows to become a famous novelist and who,from a position of late adulthood,remembers their lives after Lina's son reports that his 66-year-old mother has gone missing.
This second novel's title refers to Lina's change of surname with her marriage - but also,interestingly,to Elena's retention of hers as her published pen name,even after she weds the fiancé she meets while studying at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. We see Lina's chaos inspire Elena: her roles as grocer's wife,as adulteress falling pregnant by her lover,and as cuckolded mother. Meantime,Elena's success while rewarding,feels less colourful without Lina sharing in it.
Publisher: Europa Editions (UK) LtdISBN: 9781787702233Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm
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"High-stakes,subversive literature.""Elena Ferrante has established herself as the foremost writer in Italy-and in the world.""An extraordinary epic.""An unconditional masterpiece...I was totally enthralled.""The only book ever to make me shout out loud at a revelation in the story.""A beautiful and delicate tale of confluence and reversal."
Elena Ferrante
Named as one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People in 2016,Italian author Elena Ferrante is the pseudonym of the author behind some of the most powerful and acclaimed novels of recent times. She is best-known for her internationally bestselling 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).
Visit the Elena Ferrante author page
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