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Shop nowMy Brilliant Friend
The Neapolitan Novels: Book #1
Narrator
Hillary Huber
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Translator
Ann Goldstein
Length
12 hours 37 minutes
Language
English
Now an HBO series: the first volume in the New York Times bestselling “enduring masterpiece” (The Atlantic) about a lifelong friendship between two women from Naples
Beginning in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Elena Ferrante’s four-volume story spans almost sixty years, as its main characters, the fiery and unforgettable Lila and the bookish narrator, Elena, become women, wives, mothers, and leaders, all the while maintaining a complex and at times conflicted friendship.
This first novel in the series follows Lila and Elena from their fateful meeting as ten-year-olds through their school years and adolescence. Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between two women.
Elena Ferrante, author of The Days of Abandonment, Troubling Love, and My Brilliant Friend, among others, is one of Italy’s most important and acclaimed contemporary writers. She was named one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2016 by Time.
Hillary Huber is a multiple Audie Award finalist, an Earphones Award winner, and an AudioFile Best Voice. She has recorded over three hundred titles spanning many genres and holds a bachelor's degree in English literature. A voracious reader and listener, she was raised in Connecticut and Hawaii but now splits her time between California and New York.
Ann Goldstein is the former senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
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Reviews
“One of the more nuanced portraits of feminine friendship in recent memory.”
“An intoxicatingly furious portrait of enmeshed friends…Ferrante writes with such aggression and unnerving psychological insight about the messy complexity of female friendship .”
“Ferrante’s freshness has nothing to do with fashion…it is imbued with the most haunting music of all, the echoes of literary history.”
“Ferrante, beautifully translated by Ann Goldstein…writes with a ferocious, intimate urgency.”
“Hillary Huber’s subtly shaded performance couldn’t be better as she reveals the complexities that separate and connect the two women…Ferrante’s dense, rich prose provides the perfect palette for Huber’s artistry. Huber’s delivery of this well-plotted, absorbing story of friendship will leave listeners wanting more.”
“This gorgeous novel should bring a host of new readers to one of Italy’s most acclaimed authors.”
“Ferrante’s unflinching and insightful prose…is captivating and hopeful.”
“It is Lila and her dreams and caprices that drive everything…Lila, mercurial, unsparing, and…seemingly capable of starting a full-scale neighborhood war, is a memorable character.”
“What is most essential to the story is what is most essential in all our stories: love, loss, sex, marriage, children, friendship, family, dreams, and everything in between.”
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