The story begins in the 1950s, in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets the two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else. As they grow, as their paths repeatedly diverge and converge, Elena and Lila remain best friends whose respective destinies are reflected and refracted in the other. They are likewise the embodiments of a nation undergoing momentous change. Through...

Since the publication of My Brilliant Friend, the first of the Neapolitan novels, Elena Ferrante's fame as one of our most compelling, insightful, and stylish contemporary authors has grown enormously. She has gained admirers among authors--Jhumpa Lahiri, Elizabeth Strout, Claire Messud, to name a few--and critics--James Wood, John Freeman, Eugenia Williamson, for example. But her most resounding success has undoubtedly been with readers, who have...

Through the warm-hearted, perceptive, and principled Commissario Guido Brunetti, Donna Leon has brought us Venice in all its aspects. Now Leon returns to one of her signature subjects: the environment, which has reached a crisis in Italy. In Venice, with the polluted waters of the canals, the issue is significant. For Brunetti, it becomes so when an investigator from the Carabiniere, looking into the illegal hauling of garbage, asks for a favor. (Bestseller)...

„Najlepsza współczesna włoska powieściopisarka". The Seattle Times

„ Siłą tej przejmującej książki są wnikliwe portrety psychologiczne kobiet ukazane przez pryzmat zmiennych kolei  losu". Publishers Weekly

„Ferrante opisuje wiek dziewczęcy i przyjaźń z niewiarygodną siłą". Gwyneth Patrlow

Lila i Helena mają po szesnaście lat i obie czują, że znalazły się w ślepym zaułku. Lila dopiero wyszła za mąż, ale przyjęcie

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"Austria 1767: Maria Carolina Charlotte-ninth daughter and sixteenth child of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria-knows her position as a Hapsburg archduchess will inevitably force her to leave her home, her family, and her beloved country. But not yet. The Hapsburg family is celebrating a great triumph: Charlotte's older sister, Josepha, has been promised to King Ferdinand IV of Naples, and will soon take her place as queen. Before Josepha can journey...

"'See Naples and die.' To Heddi those words ring true. There is nothing more heartbreakingly beautiful than this city built on Roman ruins and set against a sleeping volcano. Despite years of navigating the narrow, winding streets of Naples's Spanish Quarter, the city never fails to instill in her the pain of longing, a desire to belong. A place she wants to call home despite being l'americano or the American. For Heddi's group of university friends,...

"Elenę i Lilę łączy niełatwa więź oparta na miłości, nienawiści, zazdrości, dominacji i podległości. Wspólnie wychowywały się na przedmieściach Neapolu. Elena zdecydowała się opuścić rodzinne miasto, aby kontynuować edukację w Pizie. W trakcie studiów została poczytną pisarką, a potem żoną nobilitowanego wykładowcy i matką. Tymczasem Lila pozostała w rodzinnym mieście, wyszła za mąż w wieku szesnastu lat, urodziła...

Three exhilarating novellas--The Secret Dead, The Academy of Secrets, and A Christmas Requiem--follow the early adventures of young priest Giordano Bruno in the dramatic days of sixteenth century Italy. The Secret Dead: During the summer of 1566, a girl's body is found within the walls of a Neapolitan monastery. Novice monk Giordano Bruno has a habit of asking difficult questions, but this time his investigations may lose him his place in the Dominican...

A riveting classic of European literature, this superb collection of fiction and reportage is set in Italy's most vibrant and turbulent metropolis--Naples--in the immediate aftermath of World War Two. These writings helped inspire Elena Ferrante's best-selling novels and she has expressed deep admiration for the author of this volume, originally edited in Italian by Italo Calvino. Goyaesque in its depiction of the widespread suffering and brutal desperation...

Investigating the murders of two men whose bodies were found grotesquely displayed in a garden, Captain Natalia Monte of the Carabiniere is forced to confront her own complicated past while navigating violent elements in Naples' decadent art scene and criminal underworld.