Elena Ferrante has 26 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 18 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.3★ across 686 ratings. The most-rated is My Brilliant Friend.

26 audiobooks
Cover art for My Brilliant Friend

My Brilliant Friend

135 ratings

Summary

A modern masterpiece from one of Italy's most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense, and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila, who represent the story of a nation and the nature of friendship.  The story begins in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets, the two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else. As they grow - and as their paths repeatedly diverge and converge - Elena and Lila remain best friends whose respective destinies are reflected and refracted in the other. They are likewise the embodiments of a nation undergoing momentous change. 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 her protagonists.  With My Brilliant Friend, the first in a series, Ferrante proves herself to be one of Italy's greatest storytellers. She has given her listeners a masterfully plotted pause-resister, abundant and generous in its narrative details and characterizations - a stylish work of literary fiction destined to delight her many fans and win new listeners to her work.

©2012 GO Team! Enterprises (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Narrator: Hillary Huber
Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for The Story of the Lost Child

The Story of the Lost Child

78 ratings

Summary

Here is the dazzling saga of two women: the brilliant, bookish Elena and the fiery, uncontainable Lila. Both are now adults; many of life's great discoveries have been made, its vagaries and losses have been suffered. Through it all, the women's friendship has remained the gravitational center of their lives. Both women once fought to escape the neighborhood in which they grew up - a prison of conformity, violence, and inviolable taboos. Elena married, moved to Florence, started a family, and published several well-received novels. In this final book, she has returned to Naples. Lila, on the other hand, never succeeded in freeing herself from the city of her birth. She has become a successful entrepreneur, but her success draws her into closer proximity to the nepotism, chauvinism, and criminal violence that infect her neighborhood. Nearness to the world she has always rejected only brings her role as its unacknowledged leader into relief. For Lila is unstoppable, unmanageable, and unforgettable. Against the backdrop of a Naples that is as seductive as it is perilous, the story of a lifelong friendship is told with unmatched honesty and brilliance. The four volumes in this series constitute a long, remarkable story that listeners will return to again and again, and every return will bring with it new revelations.

©2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2015 Blackstone Audiobooks

Narrator: Hillary Huber
Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for The Story of a New Name

The Story of a New Name

77 ratings

Summary

The Story of a New Name follows Elena Ferrante's critically acclaimed My Brilliant Friend, featuring Lila and Elena. The two protagonists are now in their 20s, and marriage appears to have imprisoned Lila. Meanwhile Elena continues her journey of self-discovery. These young women share a complex and evolving bond that brings them close at times while driving them apart at others. Each vacillates between hurtful disregard and profound love for the other. With this complicated and meticulously portrayed friendship at the center of their emotional lives, the two girls mature into women, paying the sometimes cruel price that this passage exacts.

©2012 Edizioni E/O. Translation © 2013 by Europa Editions (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Narrator: Hillary Huber
Length: 19 hrs and 4 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

70 ratings

Summary

The incredible story continues in book three of the critically acclaimed Neapolitan novels!  In this third Neapolitan novel, Elena and Lila, the two girls whom were first introduced in My Brilliant Friend, have become women. Lila married at 16 and has a young son; she has left her husband and the comforts her marriage brought and now works as a common laborer. Elena has left the neighborhood, earned her college degree, and published a successful novel, all of which has opened the doors to a world of learned interlocutors and richly furnished salons. Both women are pushing against the walls of a prison that would have seen them living a life of misery, ignorance, and submission. They are afloat on the great sea of opportunities that opened up during the 1970s. Yet they are still very much bound to each other by a strong, unbreakable bond.

©2015 Elena Ferrante (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Narrator: Hillary Huber
Length: 16 hrs and 43 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for The Lying Life of Adults

The Lying Life of Adults

59 ratings

Summary

Soon to be a Netflix original series. A powerful new novel set in a divided Naples by Elena Ferrante, the New York Times best-selling author of My Brilliant Friend and The Lost Daughter. “There’s no doubt [the publication of The Lying Life of Adults] will be the literary event of the year.” (Elle)  Giovanna’s pretty face is changing, turning ugly, at least so her father thinks. Giovanna, he says, looks more like her Aunt Vittoria every day. But can it be true? Is she really changing? Is she turning into Aunt Vittoria, a woman she hardly knows but whom her mother and father clearly despise? Surely there is a mirror somewhere in which she can see herself as she truly is.  Giovanna is searching for her reflection in two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: a Naples of the heights, which assumes a mask of refinement, and a Naples of the depths, a place of excess and vulgarity. She moves between both in search of the truth, but neither city seems to offer answers or escape.  Named one of 2016’s most influential people by Time Magazine and frequently touted as a future Nobel Prize winner, Elena Ferrante has become one of the world’s most read and beloved writers. With this novel about the transition from childhood to adolescence to adulthood, Ferrante proves once again that she deserves her many accolades.  In The Lying Life of Adults, listeners will discover another gripping, highly addictive, and totally unforgettable Neapolitan story. A Most Anticipated Book of 2020 The New York Times Book Review Vogue Entertainment Weekly Elle Magazine BuzzFeed The Millions The Seattle Times USA Today Town & Country Thrillist  Publishers Weekly Library Journal Harper’s Bazaar BookPage Literary Hub BBC Culture

©2020 Elena Ferrante (P)2020 Random House Audio

Available on Audible
Cover art for L'amie prodigieuse

L'amie prodigieuse

26 ratings

Summary

Naples, fin des années cinquante. Deux amies, Elena et Lila, vivent dans un quartier défavorisé de la ville, leurs familles sont pauvres et, bien qu'elles soient douées pour les études, ce n'est pas la voie qui leur est promise. Lila, la surdouée, abandonne rapidement l'école pour travailler avec son père et son frère dans leur échoppe de cordonnier. En revanche, Elena est soutenue par son institutrice, qui pousse ses parents à l'envoyer au collège puis, plus tard, au lycée, comme les enfants des Carracci et des Sarratore, des familles plus aisées qui peuvent se le permettre. Durant cette période, les deux jeunes filles se transforment physiquement et psychologiquement, s'entraident ou s'en prennent l'une à l'autre. Leurs chemins parfois se croisent et d'autres fois s'écartent, avec pour toile de fond une Naples sombre mais en ébullition, violente et dure. Des chemins qui les conduiront, après le passage par l'adolescence, à l'aube de l'âge adulte, non sans ruptures ni souffrances. Formidable voyage dans Naples et dans l'Italie du boom économique, L'amie prodigieuse trace le portrait de deux héroïnes inoubliables, qu'Elena Ferrante traque avec passion et tendresse jusqu'au plus profond de leur âme.

©2014 Éditions Gallimard (P)2016 Éditions Gallimard

Narrator: Marina Moncade
Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for L'enfant perdue

L'enfant perdue

25 ratings

Summary

À la fin de Celle qui fuit et celle qui reste, Lila montait son entreprise d'informatique avec Enzo, et Elena réalisait enfin son rêve : aimer Nino et être aimée de lui, quitte à abandonner son mari et à mettre en danger sa carrière d'écrivain. Car elle s'affirme comme une auteure importante et l'écriture l'occupe de plus en plus, au détriment de l'éducation de ses deux filles, Dede et Elsa. L'histoire d'Elena et de Nino est passionnelle, et bientôt Elena vit au gré de ses escapades pour retrouver son amant. Lors d'une visite à Naples, elle apprend que Lila cherche à la voir à tout prix. Après avoir embrassé soixante ans d'histoire des deux femmes, de Naples et de toute l'Italie, la saga se conclut en apothéose. Plus que jamais, dans L'enfant perdue, Elena Ferrante nous livre un monde complet, riche et bouillonnant, à la façon des grands romanciers du XIXe siècle, un monde qu'on n'oublie pas.

©2014 / 2017 Edizioni e/o / Éditions Gallimard, pour la traduction française. Traduit par Elsa Damien (P)2017 Éditions Gallimard

Narrator: Marina Moncade
Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Celle qui fuit et celle qui reste

Celle qui fuit et celle qui reste

22 ratings

Summary

Pour Elena, comme pour l'Italie, une période de grands bouleversements s'ouvre. Nous sommes à la fin des années soixante, les événements de 1968 s'annoncent, les mouvements féministes et protestataires s'organisent, et Elena, diplômée de l'École normale de Pise et entourée d'universitaires, est au premier rang. Même si les choix de Lila sont radicalement différents, les deux jeunes femmes sont toujours aussi proches, une relation faite d'amour et de haine, telles deux sœurs qui se ressembleraient trop. Et, une nouvelle fois, les circonstances vont les rapprocher, puis les éloigner, au cours de cette tumultueuse traversée des années soixante-dix. Celle qui fuit et celle qui reste n'a rien à envier à ses deux prédécesseurs. À la dimension historique et intime s'ajoute même un volet politique, puisque les dix années que couvre le roman sont cruciales pour l'Italie, un pays en transformation, en marche vers la modernité. Marina Moncade met en voix un texte qui oscille entre férocité et tendresse, et nous replonge avec délice dans cette saga prodigieuse.

©2013 Titre original : "Storia di chi fugge e di chi resta" ("L'amica geniale", volume terzo), Edizioni e/o. Traduit par Elsa Damien (P)2017 Éditions Gallimard

Narrator: Marina Moncade
Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Le nouveau nom

Le nouveau nom

19 ratings

Summary

Naples, années soixante. Le soir de son mariage, Lila comprend que son mari Stefano l'a trahie en s'associant aux frères Solara, les camorristes qui règnent sur le quartier et qu'elle déteste depuis son plus jeune âge. Pour Lila Cerullo, née pauvre et devenue riche en épousant l'épicier, c'est le début d'une période trouble : elle méprise son époux, refuse qu'il la touche, mais est obligée de céder. Elle travaille désormais dans la nouvelle boutique de sa belle-famille, tandis que Stefano inaugure un magasin de chaussures de la marque Cerullo en partenariat avec les Solara. De son côté, son amie Elena Greco, la narratrice, poursuit ses études au lycée et est éperdument amoureuse de Nino Sarratore, qu'elle connaît depuis l'enfance et qui fréquente à présent l'université. Quand l'été arrive, les deux amies partent pour Ischia avec la mère et la belle-sœur de Lila, car l'air de la mer doit l'aider à prendre des forces afin de donner un fils à Stefano. La famille Sarratore est également en vacances à Ischia et bientôt Lila et Elena revoient Nino. Le nouveau nom est la suite de L'amie prodigieuse. Marina Moncade nous emporte avec force et justesse dans le Naples dans années soixante, et met en voix une saga romantique au souffle unique.

©2016 Éditions Gallimard (P)2016 Éditions Gallimard

Narrator: Marina Moncade
Length: 15 hrs and 52 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for The Days of Abandonment

The Days of Abandonment

13 ratings

Summary

An IndiBound best seller, The Days of Abandonment shocked and captivated its Italian public when first published. It is the gripping story of a woman's descent into devastating emptiness after being abandoned by her husband, with two young children to care for. When she finds herself literally trapped within the four walls of their high-rise apartment, she is forced to confront her ghosts, the potential loss of her own identity, and the possibility that life may never return to normal.

©2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.; 2015 Blackstone Audio (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Narrator: Hillary Huber
Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for L'amica geniale

L'amica geniale

6 ratings

Summary

Lila è scomparsa. Esagerata, come sempre, ha cancellato ogni traccia. Ed Elena, l'amica di tutta la vita, inizia a raccontare la storia del legame viscerale che le ha unite per sei decenni. Tra inconfessata rivalità e profondo affidamento, la ragazzina geniale e ribelle e l'amica studiosa attraversano gli anni dell'adolescenza, sullo sfondo di un rione della Napoli anni Cinquanta ritratta nella sua cruda epicità. Prima parte della tetralogia "L'amica geniale".

©2011 Edizioni e/o (P)2015 Emons Italia srl

Narrator: Anna Bonaiuto
Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Storia del nuovo cognome

Storia del nuovo cognome

4 ratings

Summary

Sullo sfondo che prelude ai grandi cambiamenti degli anni Sessanta, Lila ed Elena si affacciano al mondo condividendo il desiderio di sfuggire al loro destino di ragazze cresciute nel rione napoletano.

©2012 Edizioni E/O (P)2015 Emons Italia srl

Narrator: Anna Bonaiuto
Length: 17 hrs
Available on Audible
Cover art for Storia di chi fugge e di chi resta

Storia di chi fugge e di chi resta

4 ratings

Summary

Carico di speranze e tensioni, arriva il vento degli anni Settanta che ogni cosa scompagina. Elena, laureata alla Normale di Pisa, pubblica un fortunato romanzo che segna il suo ingresso nell'ambiente colto e intellettuale. Lila, lasciato il marito, si ammazza di lavoro in una fabbrica di salumi alla periferia di Napoli. Anche se lontane, le due amiche nelle loro battaglie quotidiane continuano a specchiarsi l'una nell'altra, unite da un legame forte e ambivalente. Terza parte della tetralogia "L'amica geniale".

©2013 Edizioni e/o (P)2016 Emons Italia srl

Narrator: Anna Bonaiuto
Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Las deudas del cuerpo [Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay]

Las deudas del cuerpo [Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay]

3 ratings

Summary

Sigue las vivencias de las protagonistas de la saga «Dos amigas»: una historia de amistad que recorre los años más importantes del siglo XX. Una saga memorable con más de 5.5 millones de lectores en 42 países. Érase una vez dos niñas, Elena y Lila, que nacieron en 1944 en un barrio pobre de la ciudad de Nápoles, y desde entonces su historia ha sido el hilo conductor de esta espléndida saga napolitana que ahora llega a su tercera entrega. Lila se casó muy joven con el hombre más adinerado del barrio y poco tardó en dejarlo. Ahora vive en un lugar miserable, pero su ingenio no ha mermado; solo se ha transformado en rabia. Es quizá este odio lo que la llevará a capitanear las revueltas en la fábrica y a negarse a una convivencia pacífica y modesta con su nuevo compañero. Elena, en cambio, ha continuado con los estudios e incluso ha escrito una novela. Ahora vive entre Nápoles y Pisa, y se ha casado con un profesor de la Universidad de Florencia. Así, a primera vista, nada une ya a las dos amigas, pero el barrio de Nápoles donde fueron niñas aún las reclama, las viejas costumbres las devuelven a un tiempo que ya se fue, y la vida se cobra su precio. Please note: This audiobook is in Spanish.

©2013 Elena Ferrante (P)2018 Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, S.A.U.

Narrator: Mercè Montalà
Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Storia della bambina perduta

Storia della bambina perduta

3 ratings

Summary

Capitolo conclusivo della fortunatissima tetralogia "L'amica geniale". Con Napoli i conti non sono mai chiusi ed Elena, scrittrice ormai affermata, torna a vivere nella città da cui era fuggita. Qui ritrova Lila, diventata imprenditrice informatica, e la loro amicizia torna quella di un tempo, linfa vitale e pungolo feroce. Un audiolibro vicino alla vita, avvincente, che commuove e toglie il fiato.

©2013 Edizioni e/o (P)2016 Emons Italia srl

Narrator: Anna Bonaiuto
Length: 17 hrs and 39 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for La amiga estupenda [My Brilliant Friend]

La amiga estupenda [My Brilliant Friend]

3 ratings

Summary

Una joya de la literatura contemporánea que ya ha fascinado a más de medio millón de lectores en Italia y Estados Unidos. Una Saga Memorable Con La amiga estupenda, Elena Ferrante inaugura una tetralogia deslumbrante que tiene como telón de fondo la ciudad de Nápoles a mediados del siglo pasado y como protagonistas a Lenù y Lila, dos jóvenes mujeres que están aprendiendo a gobernar su vida en un entorno donde la astucia, antes que la inteligencia, es el ingrediente de todas las salsas. La relación a menudo tempestuosa entre Lila y Lenù viene acompañada de un coro de voces que dan cuerpo a su historia y nos muestran la realidad de un barrio pobre, habitado por gente humilde que acata sin rechistar la ley del más fuerte, pero La amiga estupenda está lejos del realismo social: lo que aquí tenemos son unos personajes de carne y hueso, que nos intrigan y nos deslumbran por la fuerza y la urgencia de sus emociones. Por primera vez Ferrante aborda una narración muy amplia, poniendo en escena un verdadero tableau vivant donde no hay espacio para el tópico: todo es vida y todo respira al hilo de la mejor literatura. «El reto para quien escribe es llenar la distancia entre lo que vives y lo que cuentas, sentir físicamente el impacto de la narración...» (Elena Ferrante) Please note: This audiobook is in Spanish. 

©2011 Elena Ferrante (P)2018 Penguin Random Audio

Narrator: Mercè Montalà
Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for 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 Neapolitan Novels: My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay & The Story of the Lost Child

3 ratings

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 postwar 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 shoemaking 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

©2019 BBC Worldwide Ltd (P)2019 BBC Worldwide Ltd

Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Un mal nombre [The Story of a New Name]

Un mal nombre [The Story of a New Name]

2 ratings

Summary

Continúa la saga Dos amigas, la historia de la amistad de dos mujeres que recorre los años más importantes del siglo XX. UNA SAGA MEMORABLE CON MÁS DE 5,5 MILLONES DE LECTORES EN 42 PAÍSES. "Ella me demostró que yo no había ganado nada, simplemente porque en este mundo nuestro no había nada que ganar... y lo que de verdad valía la pena era verse de vez en cuando para que el sonido enloquecido de nuestras mentes fuera rebotando de la una a la otra sin parar." «Ella» es una mujer hermosa, alocada, y su nombre es Lila. Es la misma niña que conocimos en La amiga estupenda, el primer tomo de esta espléndida saga y ahora, recién cumplidos los dieciséis años, acaba de casarse con un hombre al que desprecia. La otra, que la escucha, la sigue y sin querer la imita, es Lenù, una alumna brillante, empeñada en aprender de los libros todo aquello que Lila aprende de la vida a secas. Así, en este rebote de sensaciones, se desarrolla una amistad muy peculiar, una relación donde la complicidad es ley. Basta una mirada de Lila para que Lenù entienda qué pasa realmente en el dormitorio de su amiga. Basta una sonrisa para descubrir qué se esconde tras esos vestidos caros que se acoplan al cuerpo de Lila como un guante y provocan a los hombres del barrio. Basta un gesto para que Lenù sepa que Lila va a cometer una locura y nadie será capaz de detenerla. Nápoles, la ciudad que las ha visto crecer, es el escenario de esta comedia que tiene la fuerza de un drama y se quedará entre nosotros como una de las obras maestras de la literatura del siglo XXI. Please note: This audiobook is in Spanish.

©2012 Elena Ferrante (P)2018 Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, S.A.U.

Narrator: Mercè Montalà
Length: 17 hrs and 21 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for L'amore molesto

L'amore molesto

2 ratings

Summary

Che cosa è accaduto ad Amalia? Chi c'era con lei la notte in cui è morta? È stata davvero la donna ambigua e incontentabile che sua figlia si è sempre immaginata?  L'indagine di Delia si snoda in una Napoli plumbea che non dà tregua, trasformando una vicenda di quotidiani strazi familiari in un thriller domestico che mozza il respiro.

©1992 / 1999 / 2003 / 2013 Edizioni E/O (P)2018 Emons Italia S.r.l. / Edizioni E/O S.r.l

Narrator: Anna Bonaiuto
Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for L'amour harcelant

L'amour harcelant

2 ratings

Summary

Entre le corps d'Amalia, qui flotte dans la mer, à l'aube, mystérieusement noyé, et le corps de Delia, sa fille, exposé à la brutalité, au sang et à la pluie d'une Naples au ciel plombé et aux rues hostiles, se déroule ce thriller familial, sensuel et désespéré, dont les rebondissements vous griffent le cœur. Qu'est-il arrivé à Amalia ? Qui se trouvait avec elle la nuit de sa mort ? Pourquoi n'est-elle vêtue que d'un soutien-gorge neuf quand on la retrouve ? A-t-elle vraiment été, comme le portent à penser les dernières heures de sa vie, la femme que sa fille a toujours imaginée, ambiguë et insatiable, prête à de secrètes déviations, capable d'échapper dans la ruse et la grâce à la surveillance obsédante de son mari ? Qui est Caserta, ce vieil ami d'Amalia, une victime ou un bourreau ? Quels sont ces hommes qui entravent et révèlent le destin de Delia ?

©1995 Éditions Gallimard (P)1992 Edizioni E/O; 2019 Edizioni E/O

Narrator: Coraly Zahonero
Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
Available on Audible