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The Story of the Lost Child Audiobook
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Publisher Description
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.
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“[The] two modes of storytelling—the compact and the commodious; the modern and the historical; the distilling of life into metaphor and its picaresque, riotous expansion—are so obviously the obverse of each other constitutes yet another narrative, the story of how an individual (more specifically, a woman) arrives, after the vicissitudes of living, at a definition of self…Ferrante gives us both the long answer and the short, and in doing so adumbrates the mysterious beauty and brutality of personal experience.”
— New York Times Book Review
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“Her engrossing, semi-autobiographical saga…Ferrante examines feminine identity within and without the context of marriage, motherhood, and vocation… the [finale]…she delivers manages to satisfy, even while leaving us wanting more: more details, more closure, more of this fascinating, beguiling story.”
— Entertainment Weekly -
“In their blurring of the boundaries between memoir, popular fiction and feminist meditation, the Neapolitan novels say the unsayable with a confessional fearlessness.”
— Wall Street Journal -
“The Story of the Lost Child does not offer a comfortable end to the series, but it confirms Ferrante—once again—as one of contemporary fiction’s most compelling voices.”
— Telegraph (London) -
“A knowing and complex tale that encompasses an entire metropolis. The breadth of vision makes this final installment feel like the essential volume.”
— Washington Post -
“Emotional intelligence…as well as its wit and toughness.”
— NPR -
“The fourth and final volume of this epic series…the Neapolitan quartet succeeds in capturing life as lived, the striving female mind, the power of unknowing, the idea that agency within one’s fate, not the fate itself, is what truly matters.”
— Los Angeles Times -
“In Ferrante’s fourth and final Neapolitan novel, she reunites Elena, the accomplished writer, with Lila, the indomitable spirit, in their southern Italian city as they confront maturity and old age, death, and the meaning of life…This stunning conclusion further solidifies the Neapolitan novels as Ferrante’s masterpiece and guarantees that this reclusive author will remain far from obscure for years to come.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“A friendship so reflective and yet so repellent, so truthfully plumbed, is a rare thing written…Word of mouth launched this series, glowing reviews helped, and, eventually, a publishing phenomenon was born. The series’ conclusion is a genuine literary event.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“Inexorable seismic changes—in society and in the lives of two female friends—mark the final volume of Ferrante’s Neapolitan series…Elena’s narrative, once again, never wavers in tone and confidently carries readers through the course of two lives…a mythic portrait of a female friendship.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) -
“Readers should tackle all the books in order…to savor the fabulous writing and translation, get to know the memorable characters, and experience a masterpiece of storytelling with a true, living pulse. Very highly recommended, this series is destined to become a classic of Italian literature.”
— Library Journal (starred review)
Awards
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A Millions.com Pick of Most Anticipated Books of the Second Half of 2015
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A New York Times bestseller
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A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2015
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A 2015 Oprah Magazine Top 10 Book of the Year
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A 2015 Amazon Best Books of the Year Top 20 Selection
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One of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2015
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A 2015 New York Times Top 10 Book
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A 2015 Boston Globe Book of the Year
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A BuzzFeed Books Pick for Best Fiction of 2015
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A New York Times Pick of Columnist Favorites
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A NPR’s Great Reads Selection of 2015
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A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2015
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A People Magazine Best Book of 2015
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A Flavorwire Pick for Best Fiction of 2015
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A Time Magazine Best Book of 2015
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A 2016 Best Translated Book Award Longlist Selection
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A 2016 Man Booker International Prize
The Story of the Lost Child Listener Reviews
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catherine dalisera, 4/7/2021
About Elena Ferrante
Elena Ferrante, author of The Days of Abandonment, Troubling Love, and My Brilliant Friend, among others, is one of Italy’s most important and acclaimed contemporary writers. She was named one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2016 by Time.
About Hillary Huber
Hillary Huber, a Los Angeles–based voice talent with hundreds of commercials and promos under her belt, was bitten by the audiobook bug in 2005. She now records books on a regular basis and has been nominated for several Audie Awards and won numerous Earphones Awards.