The Story of the Lost Child

Reviews

“Her engrossing, semi-autobiographical saga…Ferrante examines feminine identity within and without the context of marriage, motherhood, and vocation… the [finale]…she delivers manages to satisfy, even while leaving us wanting more: more details, more closure, more of this fascinating, beguiling story.”

“In their blurring of the boundaries between memoir, popular fiction and feminist meditation, the Neapolitan novels say the unsayable with a confessional fearlessness.”

“The Story of the Lost Child does not offer a comfortable end to the series, but it confirms Ferrante—once again—as one of contemporary fiction’s most compelling voices.”

“A knowing and complex tale that encompasses an entire metropolis. The breadth of vision makes this final installment feel like the essential volume.”

“Emotional intelligence…as well as its wit and toughness.”

“[The] two modes of storytelling—the compact and the commodious; the modern and the historical; the distilling of life into metaphor and its picaresque, riotous expansion—are so obviously the obverse of each other constitutes yet another narrative, the story of how an individual (more specifically, a woman) arrives, after the ­vicissitudes of living, at a definition of self…Ferrante gives us both the long answer and the short, and in doing so adumbrates the mysterious beauty and brutality of personal experience.”

“The fourth and final volume of this epic series…the Neapolitan quartet succeeds in capturing life as lived, the striving female mind, the power of unknowing, the idea that agency within one’s fate, not the fate itself, is what truly matters.”

“In Ferrante’s fourth and final Neapolitan novel, she reunites Elena, the accomplished writer, with Lila, the indomitable spirit, in their southern Italian city as they confront maturity and old age, death, and the meaning of life…This stunning conclusion further solidifies the Neapolitan novels as Ferrante’s masterpiece and guarantees that this reclusive author will remain far from obscure for years to come.”

“A friendship so reflective and yet so repellent, so truthfully plumbed, is a rare thing written…Word of mouth launched this series, glowing reviews helped, and, eventually, a publishing phenomenon was born. The series’ conclusion is a genuine literary event.”

“Inexorable seismic changes—in society and in the lives of two female friends—mark the final volume of Ferrante’s Neapolitan series…Elena’s narrative, once again, never wavers in tone and confidently carries readers through the course of two lives…a mythic portrait of a female friendship.”

“Readers should tackle all the books in order…to savor the fabulous writing and translation, get to know the memorable characters, and experience a masterpiece of storytelling with a true, living pulse. Very highly recommended, this series is destined to become a classic of Italian literature.”

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