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  • The Neapolitan Novels: My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay & The Story of the Lost Child

  • The Complete BBC Radio Collection
  • By: Elena Ferrante
  • Narrated by: Anastasia Hille, full cast, Monica Dolan
  • Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
  • 3.7 out of 5 stars (17 ratings)

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The Neapolitan Novels: My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay & The Story of the Lost Child cover art

The Neapolitan Novels: My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay & The Story of the Lost Child

By: Elena Ferrante
Narrated by: Anastasia Hille, full cast, Monica Dolan
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Publisher's Summary

From one of Italy's most acclaimed authors, The Neapolitan Novels is an exploration of the friendship between Lila and Lena, two bright young girls who grew up in the tough, rough streets of post-war Naples. This is no normal friendship; it's a friendship that loves, hurts, supports and destroys - and yet it is one that lasts a lifetime. These four full-cast BBC adaptations bring the streets of Naples vividly to life.

The first novel , My Brilliant Friend, begins in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighbourhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these streets two girls, Lena and Lila, learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone - or anything.

The Story of a New Name sees the two girls striving to make a better life for themselves. They work hard at school but Lila is stopped in her tracks when forced to give up her education to work for the family shoe-making business. It's not long before their worlds are pushed apart.

In the third book, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, Lena escapes to Milan but struggles to find the courage to live, parent and write again after her marriage to her increasingly dismissive husband. Lila, meanwhile, also struggles to rise above her social conditions and desperately tries to find a way to better herself in whatever way she can. 

In the final part of their story, The Story of the Lost Child, Lena returns to Naples with her two children to find Lila has also managed to turn her life around, despite remaining in the claws of violent and mafia-run Naples.

Through broken marriages, violent pasts, and the yearning for something more, the two women always turn to each other as their friendship – and the tensions between them – grow ever deeper. 

Adapted from the books by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein.

Dramatised by Timberlake Wertenbaker

Directed by Celia de Wolff

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.

©2019 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2019 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

What listeners say about The Neapolitan Novels: My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay & The Story of the Lost Child

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I enjoyed every second

The book is wonderful, it's so nice that it is dramatized to the audiobook with many actreses and not just narrated. I felt like i was sucked into the story and lived it through the fantastic narration, The story entered the cracks of my heart and i will never forget it. If you want to forget yourself and see in your mind, other places, times, and friendships get this book

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Worst narration of an incredible narrative.

Shocking accents (not remotely Italian) but the story. Ah. The story. Find another narrator set and it's incredible.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story.

I enjoyed the story but struggled to hear the dialogue at times because sound effects sometimes were louder than dialogue and the volume fluctuations between readers had me turning volume up or down in order to hear. I have never had so much difficulty listening to an Audible book before.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

it was painful listening to this book set in Italy

I was painful trying to listen to this beautiful Italian tale set in Naples being narrated in a British accent
I could not bear it
I purchased the novel in Italian
I preferred to struggle to understand rather than listen to a cockney accent mispronounce names

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Why do this?

I could not bear the English (Coronation St) accents.
Not the original story. Dumbed down.

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3 people found this helpful

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