My Brilliant Friend — Elena Ferrante

Named the #1 Book of the 21st Century by the New York Times: The “enduring classic” about the lifelong friendship of two women from Naples (The Atlantic).
 
Beginning in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Elena Ferrante's four-volume story spans almost sixty years, as its main characters, the fiery and unforgettable Lila and the bookish narrator, Elena, become women, wives, mothers, and leaders, all the while maintaining a complex and at times conflicted friendship. This first novel in the series follows Lila and Elena from their fateful meeting as ten-year-olds through their school years and adolescence.
 
Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between two women.

“An intoxicatingly furious portrait of enmeshed friends.” -- Entertainment Weekly
 
“Spectacular.” -- Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air
 
“Captivating.” -- The New Yorker

Basis for the HBO series