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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
- Narrated by: Anastasia Hille, full cast, Monica Dolan
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
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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
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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.
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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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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Jelly
- 07-09-23
Slowly engaging
Not easy to initially engage but interesting story on faster speed. The similarity of the characters names is confusing and during the enactment in switching between the characters.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jo Phuture
- 24-09-20
After missing the live performance I wanted to get stuck in ...
After sadly missing out on the theatre performance earlier this year I couldn’t wait to listen to My Brilliant Friend - in fact this title was one of the reasons I went for this trial - admittedly initially I was a little confused with character’s ie who was who - as the narrative is fasted paced and clearer when you are still and aren’t distracted in a shopping aisle! By the third book I was utterly absorbed and will go through all of this authors books.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jules
- 15-05-21
A classic
Absolutely love these books. Adaptation is excellent and it leaves you wanting more. I loved the translation of Italian Naples characters into an equivalent English dialect.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Ceri-Anne
- 13-04-19
Worth persevering with this.
Hard to get going but really well worth the effort. An excellent production all round.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- author, author
- 13-12-20
Brilliant!
Brilliant! Loved every minute of this. A gripping adaptation, really well done. Would definitely recommend this. Probably cuts out a lot of the books, but as an audio adaptation it's hugely engrossing.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- trudi
- 16-03-23
rather dull
never really went anywhere very boring. narration good though.
probably not fast enough pace for me
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 13-03-22
Northern Lights
I’ve read the quartet and enjoyed this dramatisation especially after doing ‘the lost daughter’ in two groups. Definitely some parallels here. Recommend to all EF fans
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- mairincolleary
- 06-10-19
physcology and settings
fantastic book beautiful writing and great Insights into the nature and problems of friendships in a totally believable setting
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 05-07-20
why i did not like this interpretation
why could the readers not have had italians accents .The passion and atmosphere was lost.Naples is a fabulous city
but the production gave none of that heat and fury I didnt like this dramatisation
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Amanda M
- 15-07-21
Awful narration
I simply couldn’t get past the first section of Chapter 1 as I took an instant dislike to the narrator’s style with the children’s voices. Totally a personal opinion and I will try reading the book.
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5 people found this helpful