Elena Ferrante didn’t win the Man Booker Prize 2016, yet her (or his) popularity grows more and more. In fact, BBC Radio 4 has produced a new programme based on My Brilliant Friend, the first novel of the so-called Neapolitan series. Italian audience is not so used to radio series, but on the contrary English radio listeners love them.
The acclaimed novel tells the story of the friendship between Lila and the story’s narrator, Lena, that begins in the 1950s in a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets, the two friends learn to rely on each other and their friendship becomes a not always perfect shelter from hardship.
Translated by Ann Goldstein, the book is the story of a neighbourhood, a city and a country undergoing momentous change.
The radio adaptation has been dramatised by Timberlake Wertenbaker and directed by Celia de Wolff.
You can listen to My Brilliant Friend‘s adaptation on BBC Player on this link. The programme will be available shortly after broadcast on Sunday 31 August.