Lila disappeared. That is the only thing Elena knows, her best friend since childhood. Thus begins The Brilliant Friend, the first volume of the Italian literary saga Two Friends. Set in post-war Naples, Italian writer Elena Ferrante develops a feminist story through four books.
Since Rafaella-Lina, for Elena Lila-Cerullo, arrived at primary school, she became Elena Greco's best friend. The best students in the class, these two girls will become young women while reading books and playing with their dolls in the context of a poor neighborhood in post-war Naples.
Forced by circumstances to help their families at home, the two girls must make great efforts to convince their parents of the importance of continuing their education. However, only Elena, thanks to the intervention of teacher Oliviero, achieves her goal.
Years go by, and while Elena continues studying in Elementary School, Lila must find a husband. She marries Stefano Carracci, the son of Don Achille, the monster of her childhood. Stefano is a rude man who hits Lila and does not let her be who she is. Meanwhile, Elena remains an excellent student but must face obstacles every time she wants to continue her studies.
In the subsequent books, both women draw strength from each other to improve their personal and emotional situations through a friendship that transcends time and the circumstances of life.
The saga of the two friends offers a heartbreaking account of the transition from childhood to adulthood under adverse social conditions, the effects of poverty on women's lives, and the consequences of growing up in a macho society.
Through these four books, Ferrante describes in an absolutely realistic way the complexities and nuances of the bonds between women through Elena's voice, who narrates in the first person the events of her story alongside Lila. Intelligent, but shy and insecure, Lenu, as her parents and friends affectionately call her, manages to become a university student and graduate, but doubts arise within her: Will she be good enough? Will others notice her limitations?
That's why sometimes Lenu prefers to be like Lila, married and having her own house, away from her parents and siblings. But what Elena doesn't know is that Lila suffers greatly at the hands of her husband and family, who did not give her the love and affection that Elena's parents gave to her.
The Brilliant Friend, the first book of the saga and considered the best book of the 21st century by the New York Times, is a wonderful way to enter the literary universe of the two friends, two girls who dream of becoming women in adverse situations, who must fight against their fears and anxieties, but above all against the context in which they live, a context that prevents them from fully realizing themselves and that categorizes them according to their circumstances.
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