The Neapolitan Novels

“Ferrante bewitches with her tiny, intricately drawn world . . . My Brilliant Friend journeys fearlessly into some of that murkier psychological territory where questions of individual identity are inextricable from circumstance and the ever-changing identities of others.”

—The Melbourne Review

“The Neapolitan novels move far from contrivance, logic or respectability to ask uncomfortable questions about how we live, how we love, how we singe an existence in a deeply flawed world that expects pretty acquiescence from its women. In all their beauty, their ugliness, their devotion and deceit, these girls enchant and repulse, like life, like our very selves.”

—The Sydney Morning Herald

FROM SPAIN

“Elena Ferrante’s female characters are genuine works of art . . . It is clear that her novel is the child of Italian neorealism and an abiding fascination with scene.”

—El Pais

M

Y

B

RILLIANT

F

RIEND

I

NDEX OF

C

HARACTERS

The Cerullo family (the shoemaker’s family):

Fernando Cerullo, shoemaker.

Nunzia Cerullo, wife of Fernando and Lila’s mother.

Raffaella Cerullo, called Lina, and by Elena Lila.

Rino Cerullo, Lila’s older brother, also a shoemaker.

Rino, also the name of one of Lila’s children.

Other children.

 

The Greco family (the porter’s family):

Elena Greco, called Lenuccia or Lenù. She is the oldest, and after her are Peppe, Gianni, and Elisa.

The father is a porter at the city hall.

The mother is a housewife.

The Carracci family (Don Achille’s family):

Don Achille Carracci, the ogre of fairy tales.

Maria Carracci, wife of Don Achille.

Stefano Carracci, son of Don Achille, grocer in the family store.

Pinuccia and Alfonso Carracci, Don Achille’s two other children.

The Peluso family (the carpenter’s family):

Alfredo Peluso, carpenter.

Giuseppina Peluso, wife of Alfredo.

Pasquale Peluso, older son of Alfredo and Giuseppina, construction worker.

Carmela Peluso, who is also called Carmen, sister of Pasquale, salesclerk in a dry-goods store.

Other children.

The Cappuccio family (the mad widow’s family):

Melina, a relative of Lila’s mother, a mad widow.

Melina’s husband, who unloaded crates at the fruit and vegetable market.

Ada Cappuccio, Melina’s daughter.

Antonio Cappuccio, her brother, a mechanic.

Other children.

The Sarratore family (the railroad worker poet’s family):

Donato Sarratore, conductor.

Lidia Sarratore, wife of Donato.

Nino Sarratore, the oldest of the five children of Donato and Lidia.

Marisa Sarratore, daughter of Donato and Lidia.

Pino, Clelia, and Ciro Sarratore, younger children of Donato and Lidia.

The Scanno family (the fruit and vegetable seller’s family):

Nicola Scanno, fruit and vegetable seller.

Assunta Scanno, wife of Nicola.

Enzo Scanno, son of Nicola and Assunta, also a fruit and vegetable seller.

Other children.

The Solara family (the family of the owner of the Solara bar-pastry shop):

Silvio Solara, owner of the bar-pastry shop.

ManuelaSolara, wife of Silvio.

Marcello and Michele Solara, sons of Silvio and Manuela.

The Spagnuolo family (the baker’s family):

Signor Spagnuolo, pastry maker at the bar-pastry shop Solara.

Rosa Spagnuolo, wife of the pastry maker.

Gigliola Spagnuolo, daughter of the pastry maker.

Other children.

Gino, son of the pharmacist.

The teachers:

Maestro Ferraro, teacher and librarian.

Maestra Oliviero, teacher.

Professor Gerace, high school teacher.

Professor Galiani, high school teacher.

Nella Incardo, Maestra Oliviero’s cousin, who lives on Ischia.

P

ROLOGUE

Eliminating All the Traces

1.

This morning Rino telephoned. I thought he wanted money again and I was ready to say no. But that was not the reason for the phone call: his mother was gone.

“Since when?”

“Since two weeks ago.”

“And you’re calling me now?”