Where to Start With Elena Ferrante

This book kicks off the quartet of novels that brings readers into the world of a friendship so specific, yet relatable, that it feels like you’re another one of the BFFs. Meet Elena (nicknamed Lenú) and Raffaella (Lila), two young women who grow up on the outskirts of Naples in poverty, struggling against the sometimes smothering social expectations of their community.

In 1990s Naples, twelve-year-old Giovanna eavesdrops on a conversation when her father compares her features to his estranged sister, Vittoria. Deeply curious about this estranged aunt, Giovanna sets out on a quest to meet her and unearth the history of her family’s fallout.

While this was Ferrante’s first novel, it was published as her second in the United States. If you’re committed to being a Ferrante completist, start with this one. In Troubling Love, Delia returns to Naples, Italy, upon the strange passing of her mother, and finds herself revisiting her childhood and the places of her youth.

One day, Olga, a woman in her 30s, is abandoned by her husband, Mario, when he says he will leave her and their two children. At first, she thinks he’s kidding, but he ends their marriage of 15 years and leaves her for another woman.

Recently adapted into actor Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial film debut, The Lost Daughter follows Leda, an English professor who spends her summer alone on the Ionian Coast as her daughters stay with her ex-husband. She becomes fascinated with a family, especially the mother and a young daughter, who are also staying nearby. We highly recommend reading it before seeing the film, which is also a must.

Ferrante’s book for young readers follows a doll, Celine, who is left at the beach and has to make it through the night alone. Following in the vein of dark European fairy tales, the novel reads like something akin to Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. As children's literature, this sometimes disturbing book may not be the most comfortable for all parents and kids, but it's definitely worth a read in your Ferrante journey.

Ferrante’s non-fiction work catalogs letters to publishers, interviews, and essays, discussing her work, her anonymity, her writing process, and her life.