This month I finished the last novel in Ferrante's Neapolitan Quartet called
The Story of the Lost Child. In this final installment, we follow Elena and Lila's friendship through some turbulent and heartbreaking events. They are now in their late thirties. Both of them live in Naples, and this geographic proximity makes it easy for them to rekindle their friendship and to become closer than ever. At 36 both women become pregnant and give birth to daughters. The little girls spend all of their time together very similar to the way Elena and Lila did in their childhood. But then the unimaginable happens: Lila's little girl disappears without a trace. This heart-wrenching tragedy changes Lila's, and by extension Elena's, life for ever.
This novel, just as the previous three, examines the ways this friendship with Lila defines who Elena is as a person and as a writer. More than ever she realizes that the neighborhood, the people she grew up with, and especially Lila, are a part of who she is. Her best books come from that same place, and her very personality and life are shaped by that friendship. Ferrante's novels are genuine, raw, profound and poignant. Five out of five stars yet again. I highly recommend the entire quartet.
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