Discover our Monthly Spotlight for November: The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante

This month, we revisit the final book in the Italian author's Neapolitan Quartet. Read an extract, explore our reading guide and enter our latest competition to win the four novels in the series

This November, we’d love you to join us in reading (or re-reading) The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante, translated into English by Ann Goldstein.

Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2016, the novel – which is set against the raw backdrop of Ferrante’s native Naples – concludes the author’s four-part series chronicling the lives of two women: the brilliant, bookish Elena, and the fiery, uncontainable Lila. Now adults with complex relationships, families, and ageing parents, their enduring friendship remains the gravitational centre of their lives.

Ferrante, famously private and writing under a pseudonym, has always distanced herself from her work, true to her belief that ‘books, once they are written, have no need of their authors’. Despite a reluctance to step into the spotlight, the author was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2016, the year after she brought her series to a close.

‘This is Ferrante at the height of her brilliance,’ wrote Elissa Schappel, reviewing The Story of the Lost Child for Vanity Fair. In Entertainment Weekly, Darren Franich called the Neapolitan Quartet ‘the series of the decade,’ celebrating it as ‘conflicted, revisionist, desperate, hopeful, revolutionary, euphorically feminine even in the face of assaultive male corrosion’.

Most recently, The New York Times ranked My Brilliant Friend, the first book in the series, as the best book of the 21st century, underscoring Ferrante’s impact on contemporary literature. With over 14 million copies sold, the Quartet has cemented Ferrante’s position as one of the most significant voices of our time.

For more on The Story of the Lost Child, visit our Monthly Spotlight page to read an extract. There, you can also explore our reading guide, complete with plenty of discussion points for book clubs. And don’t miss your chance to win the four books in the series.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or join the conversation over on our social channels. Happy reading!

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Read an extract from The Story of the Lost Child

Having moved to Florence, started a family, and published several well-received books, Elena returns to her home city to be with the man she has always loved. Lila, on the other hand, never freed herself from Naples. And her entrepreneurial success only draws her into closer contact with the nepotism, criminal violence and inviolable taboos that infect her neighbourhood.

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Win the Neapolitan Quartet and a Booker Prize tote bag

To celebrate our Monthly Spotlight for November, we’re giving you the chance to win the four novels in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet and a limited-edition Booker Prize tote bag. The bundle includes copies of The Story of the Lost Child, My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name and Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay.

To be in with a chance of winning the set, head over to the Booker Prizes website and enter your details by 12:00 GMT on Friday, November 29, 2024. This competition is open to readers anywhere in the world.

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Discover our reading guide to the novel

Whether you’re new to The Story of the Lost Child or have read it and would like to explore it more deeply, discover more with our comprehensive guide which includes a synopsis, character summaries, critics’ comments and a range of discussion points for book clubs.

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