The Story of the Lost Child
By Elena Ferrante
Translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein
(Europa Editions)

In The Story of the Lost Child, the pseudonymous Elena Ferrante brings full circle her visceral and compelling four-part saga, The Brilliant Friend. Through this cycle of novels, the author traces in acid the close yet conflicted bond between two women, Lila and Elena, from their childhood in the poor quarters of Naples to young adulthood, separation, and the disappearance of Lila decades later. Each character struggles to escape the searing oppression of the city’s lower depths, but each will eventually succumb. Translator Ann Goldstein proves more than equal to the challenge of capturing the grit, color and dynamic of Ferrante’s prose, and has contributed immeasurably to the quartet’s breakaway success.