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The Story of the Lost Child

The Neapolitan Novels, Book 4

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The Story of the Lost Child

Written by: Elena Ferrante
Narrated by: Hillary Huber
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About this listen

The Story of the Lost Child concludes the dazzling saga of two women—the brilliant, bookish Elena and the fiery, uncontainable Lila—who first met amid the shambles of postwar Italy.

In this book, life’s great discoveries have been made; its vagaries and losses have been suffered. Through it all, Elena and Lila’s friendship remains the gravitational center of their lives. Both women once fought to escape the neighborhood in which they grew up. Elena married, moved to Florence, started a family, and published several well-received books. But now, she has returned to Naples to be with the man she has always loved.

Lila, on the other hand, never succeeded in freeing herself from Naples. She has become a successful entrepreneur, but her success draws her into closer proximity with the nepotism, chauvinism, and criminal violence that infect her neighborhood. Yet, somehow, this proximity to a world she has always rejected only brings her role as unacknowledged leader of that world into relief.

©2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2015 Blackstone Audiobooks
Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction Italy Inspiring
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This book is rhythmic! Poetic! Sensual !

I loved this quartet. This is the last book and I never want it to end. The descriptions of lives lived mostly in Naples is beyond compelling. I now must visit and walk the streets and see the sites. It’s hard to believe that these books are translated from Italian. Bravo to everyone. And a special mention to Hilary Huber. Her ability to become the voices of so many of the characters is awesome. I have recommended these books to all my friends.

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Entire series = 5 stars

I absolutely LOVED this whole series, beginning with My Brilliant Friend. I listened to all 4 books, back-to-back, with perhaps a day or two in-between, over a couple of weeks of mostly vacation time. It was quite the immersive experience. I got to know the characters and wasn’t left trying to remember what had happened in the previous book, or how the characters related to each other. The setting of Naples drew me in, especially the grittiness of the neighbourhood. In the first book, My Brilliant Friend, I imagined that in the young boys I was seeing future mafia members, and this sustained my interest over the series. The same with the neighbourhood and its history. Of course, central to it all was the two main characters. I enjoyed learning what made their bond so strong, and how it kept pulling them back together after each time they would drift apart. And their men… the sparks of young love and early crushes that would underly relationships and entanglements to come. That’s the most I can say without spoilers. All I can really say is READ THESE BOOKS. It’s been over six months since I listened and they are still with me.

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Enthralling

I was completely enthralled by this story. The characters felt alive to me as I journeyed through their lives. I felt like i knew them and when it was over I found myself missing Elena and Lila. Their friendship was complex and beautiful and fascinating.

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Now Watch the Series -Fabulous

I had watched the two part series on Netflix, and even though I had to read through the translations on the screen, it captured me. When I saw that there were three stories I had to listen. The narrator is fantastic, and the storyline is unlike anything I’ve ever heard before definitely a must listen.

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Challenging But What a Journey!

I started listening to this series of books starting in 2016 and I can’t believe it’s taken me over 6 years to finish. I don’t know that I love the books but they have had a profound effect on me: and this one is perhaps the most challenging. Lila and Lenu have become like relatives for me: maddening, wonderful and I have a love/hate relationship with them — the way they seem to have had with each other. There’s moments in the book that gutted me, that were too true and other times where I couldn’t bear to listen for weeks at a time. But now the journey has ended and I feel like these books will be part of me in a way that I never expected. I’m not sure I will re-read/re-listen, but I don’t think I will ever forget either.

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