Book description
NOW A MOTION PICTURE NOMINATED FOR THREE OSCARS—Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay—Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and starring Olivia Colman, Jesse Buckley, Paul Mescal, and Dakota Johnson
Another penetrating Neapolitan story from New York Times best-selling author of My Brilliant Friend and The Lying Life of Adults
Leda,…
Why read it?
1 author picked The Lost Daughter as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
This blunt and surprising short novel is translated from Italian by Ann Goldstein and narrated by Leda, a middle-aged divorcee, professor of comparative literature, and self-identified “unnatural mother” who becomes infatuated with a younger mother she meets at the beach while vacationing alone. It’s an engrossing yet uncomfortable read; Leda’s descriptions of her maternal ambivalence are unnervingly yet refreshingly candid and often dark.
Readers who are prone to categorizing characters as “likable” or “unlikeable” will probably put Leda in the latter category, but one of the things I love most about Ferrante’s work is the way she explodes those categories,…
From Ashley's list on brainy women who are ambivalent about motherhood.
If you love The Lost Daughter...
Letters from Brazil
When the author's family migrates from Brazil to North America in 1964, she and her best friend are forced to separate. They decide to keep in touch via written correspondence—an exchange that ultimately persists for twenty years.
From São Paulo, the one who stays writes candidly with warmth, dedication, and…
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