The Story of the Lost Child: A Novel (Neapolitan Novels, 4)

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

Author: Elena Ferrante
Publisher: Europa Editions
Published: 09/01/2015
Pages: 480
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.30w x 1.50d
ISBN: 9781609452865

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 06/01/2015
Kirkus Reviews 06/15/2015
Publishers Weekly 06/15/2015 pg. 57
Entertainment Weekly 08/14/2015 pg. 64
Booklist 07/01/2015 pg. 33
New York Times Book Review 08/30/2015 pg. 1
New York Times Book Review 09/06/2015 pg. 22
Entertainment Weekly 09/11/2015 pg. 62
Shelf Awareness 09/11/2015
New Yorker (The) 09/21/2015 pg. 105
Publishers Weekly Best Books 11/02/2015 pg. 25
Kirkus Best Fiction 11/15/2015 pg. 12
NY Times Notable Bks of Year 12/06/2015 pg. 27
Christian Century 12/09/2015 pg. 24
New York Times Book Review 12/13/2015 pg. 12
People Weekly 12/21/2015 pg. 58
Booklist Editors Choice/Adult 01/01/2016 pg. 9

About the Author

Elena Ferrante is the author of The Days of Abandonment (Europa, 2005), which was made into a film directed by Roberto Faenza, Troubling Love (Europa, 2006), adapted by Mario Martone, and The Lost Daughter (Europa, 2008), soon to be a film directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. She is also the author of a Frantumaglia: A Writer's Journey (Europa, 2016) in which she recounts her experience as a novelist, and a children's picture book illustrated by Mara Cerri, The Beach at Night (Europa, 2016). The four volumes known as 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) were published in America by Europa between 2012 and 2015. The first season of the HBO series My Brilliant Friend, directed by Severio Costanzo premiered in 2018.
Ann Goldstein is an editor at The New Yorker. Her translations for Europa Editions include novels by Amara Lakhous, Alessandro Piperno, and Elena Ferrante's bestselling My Brilliant Friend. She lives in New York.