The book
"In tactile, beautifully restrained prose, Ferrante makes the domestic violence that tore the household apart evident."—Publishers Weekly
Following her mother’s untimely and mysterious death, Delia embarks on a voyage of discovery through the streets of her native Naples searching for the truth about her family. Reality is buried somewhere in the fertile soil of memory, and Delia is determined to find it. This stylish fiction from the author of The Days of Abandonment is set in a beguiling but often hostile Naples, whose chaotic, suffocating streets become one of the book’s central motifs. A story about mothers and daughters, and the complicated knot of lies and emotions that binds them.
The author
Elena Ferrante
Elena Ferrante is the author of The Days of Abandonment (Europa, 2005), Troubling Love (Europa, 2006), The Lost Daughter (Europa, 2008) and the Neapolitan Quartet (Europa 2012-2015). She is also the author of a children’s picture book illustrated by Mara Cerri, The Beach at Night.
Press
- Jun 30 2015
Tweed Magazine: "The dry delivery, the banal details of the date and location of the drowning, all combine to reflect the state of shock and calm one experiences upon the first wave of trauma." - Jul 10 2014
Mary Whipple Review: "Recreates the mysteries that will always surround our parents." - Jan 21 2013
The New Yorker: "Her novels are intensely, violently personal, and because of this they seem to dangle bristling key chains of confession before the unsuspecting reader." - Jan 10 2007
Sanditan.com: "Brief ... but one of the most riveting and intense books about mothers and daughters (!) I’ve ever seen." - Nov 10 2006
Ready Steady Book: "Ferrante’s writing is raw and earthy [...] Her blunt use of language communicates the urgency and disorder experienced by Delia, drawing readers with her on the journey of discovery." - Oct 26 2006
The New Yorker: "Ferrante’s polished language belies the rawness of her imagery, which conveys perversity, violence, and bodily functions in ripe detail."