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Sign up todayThe Days of Abandonment
Narrator
Hillary Huber
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Translator
Ann Goldstein
Length
7 hours 35 minutes
Language
English
The Days of Abandonment is the gripping story of an Italian woman’s experiences after being suddenly left by her husband after fifteen years of marriage.
With two young children to care for, Olga finds it more and more difficult to do the things she used to: keep a spotless house, cook meals with creativity and passion, refrain from using obscenities. After running into her husband with his much-younger new lover in public, she cannot even refrain from assaulting him physically.
Olga conveys her journey from denial to devastating emptiness—and when she finds herself literally trapped within the four walls of their high-rise apartment, she is forced to confront her ghosts, the potential loss of her own identity, and the possibility that life may never return to normal.
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 AudioFile Earphones Award winner, and an AudioFile Best Voice. She has recorded close to three hundred titles, spanning many genres. A huge fan of audiobooks, when she's not narrating one, she's listening to one!
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 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 Saverio Costanzo, premiered in 2018.
ANN GOLDSTEIN has translated into English all of Elena Ferrante's books, including the New York Times bestseller, The Story of the Lost Child, which was shortlisted for the MAN Booker International Prize. She has been honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship and is the recipient of the PEN Renato Poggioli Translation Award. She lives in New York.
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Reviews
“In Ferrante’s ice-pick of a novel, Olga’s orderly life spins into disarray—a purgatory of rage and bereavement.”
“The book’s power is in its fearless, closeup details and in the ways the narrative subtly implicates the reader: given a certain set of horrific circumstances, I, too, might be capable of this psychic fury.”
“In this deeply observed, excruciatingly blunt novel…Still, Ferrante knows just when to let up, and the redemptive note struck by the ending is a welcome reprieve.”
“I could not put this novel down. Elena Ferrante will blow you away.”
“Ferrante’s theme…has seldom received such close scrutiny in literary fiction…an elegant novel.”
“Sometimes, in dark times, it’s nice to have another voice beside you. This is a dark novel, and listening to the audiobook might help alleviate some of the desolation of the narrative.”
“This intelligent and darkly comic novel…conveys the resilience of a complex woman.”
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