All Our Brilliant Friends

Before Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend appeared in English, no one thought it would be a smash hit. The novel and its three sequels, collectively known as the Neapolitan Quartet, follow two women, Lila and Elena, through a tempestuous, competitive, and emotionally intense friendship that doubles as a history of postwar feminism and postwar Italy. Although the books, like Ferrante’s earlier work, were critically acclaimed in the original Italian, editors elsewhere were skeptical that their readers would be interested. In fact, Ferrante’s Italian publisher had opened an American imprint in order to give stateside readers “the possibility of encountering firsthand a major talent like Elena Ferrante.”

Thirteen years after My Brilliant Friend’s U.S. publication, the Neapolitan novels, in