The Lying Life of Adults

The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante is her first novel after the Neapolitan tetralogy — a standalone work set in 1990s Naples that returns to her characteristic territory with fresh eyes. When sixteen-year-old Giovanna overhears her father compare her to his estranged sister Vittoria, she becomes obsessed with finding and understanding this mysterious, disreputable woman — and in doing so, begins the painful process of seeing her parents clearly for the first time. Ferrante traces adolescent disillusionment with the same ferocity and psychological precision that made the Neapolitan novels so powerful: the discovery that the adults in your life have been lying — to you, to themselves, and to each other — and the question of what to do with that knowledge. Published by Europa Editions, this is essential Ferrante.