With The Story of a New Name, Elena Ferrante picks up where she left off in My Brilliant Friend, following her two protagonists, Lila and Elena, from adolescence into their 20s. The novel, the second volume in a trilogy, is a treatise on life in Naples, a part of Italy that has nothing in common with Rome, Florence or Milan.
The two girls have a complex, intense relationship, with Lila leading the way and Elena trying to accommodate--at least at first. Lila has pulled herself out of poverty with an early marriage to a grocer's son, whom she hates. Elena has continued studying, graduating from high school and going to university in Pisa.
Elena has been in love with Nino for what seems like her whole life. She orchestrates visits to the beach where he will be and, in a heart-rending scene, allows herself to be deflowered by his father. In a cruel twist, Lila becomes sexually obsessed with Nino, and he with her. Their affair causes scandal, results in the birth of a child and drives a wedge between Lila and Elena.
So far, this sounds like the stuff of soap opera, but the situations feel strongly autobiographical, and Ferrante's writing is convincingly real. By the end, Lila is living in poverty again and Elena has just had a book published--a recollection of her childhood, her friendship with Lila, her school experiences and the people they know. A story within a story? What surprises will the next volume in Ferrante's trilogy bring? --Valerie Ryan, Cannon Beach Book Company, Ore.