Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

Over 14 million of the Neapolitan Quartet sold worldwide

"Nothing quite like this has ever been published before." - The Guardian

"This is high stakes, subversive literature." - The Daily Telegraph

"With the publication of her Neapolitan Novels, (Ferrante) has established herself as the foremost writer in Italy - and the world." - The Sunday Times

"An unconditional masterpiece . . . I was totally enthralled." - Jhumpa Lahiri

"An extraordinary epic." - Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"To the uninitiated, Elena Ferrante is best described as Balzac meets The Sopranos and rewrites feminist theory." - The Times

"Ferrante's writing seems to say something that hasn't been said before, in a way so compelling its readers forget where they are, abandon friends and disdain sleep." - London Review of Books

"Stunning. An intense, forensic exploration of friendship." - The Times Literary Supplement

Set in the late 1960s and the 1970s, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay continues the story of the feisty and rebellious Lila and her lifelong friend, the brilliant and bookish Elena. Lila, after separating from her husband, is living with her young son in a new neighbourhood of Naples and working at a local factory. Elena has left Naples, earned a degree from an elite college, and published a novel, all of which has opened the doors to a world of learned and fascinating interlocutors.

The era, with its dramatic changes in sexual politics and social costumes, with its seemingly limitless number of new possibilities, is rendered with breathtaking vigour. This third Neapolitan Novel is not only a moving story of friendship but also a searing portrait of a rapidly changing world.