A POWERFUL NEW NOVEL BY ELENA FERRANTE, THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF MY BRILLIANT FRIEND

Giovanna’s pretty face has changed: it’s turning into the face of an ugly, spiteful adolescent. But is she seeing things as they really are? Where must she look to find her true reflection and a life she can claim as her own?

Giovanna’s search leads her to two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: the Naples of the heights, which assumes a mask of refinement, and the Naples of the depths, a place of excess and vulgarity. Adrift, she vacillates between these two cities, falling into one then climbing back to the other.

Set in a divided Naples, The Lying Life of Adults is a singular portrayal of the transition from childhood to adolescence to adulthood.

“This is no amiable coming-of-age tale….the most intense writing about the experiences and interior life of a girl on the cusp of adulthood that I have ever read. It is brilliant.” —The Financial Times