Lenù and Lila bond over the years as they compete fiercely in school-Lila is preternaturally gifted and has taught herself to read and write by the age of seven. As Elena describes their primary school years, she interweaves stories of day-to-day life with the tale of her and Lila’s journey one fateful afternoon up to the apartment of Don Achille, a mysterious and feared loan shark, to demand the return of a pair of dolls they believe he stole from them. Looking back on her childhood in 1950s Naples, Elena-then known as Lenù-recalls life in a neighborhood run by loan sharks and Camorrists (gangsters) and dominated by widespread violence perpetrated by both men and women.Įlena begins her story when she and Lila are in elementary school. Angry with Lila for taking things “too far,” she sits down at her computer to write their story. Elena suggests that Rafaella-whom she has always called Lila-doesn’t want to be found and coldly tells her son to stop looking for her. Rafaella “Lila” Cerullo, Elena’s friend since childhood, has gone missing. In a brief prologue, Elena Greco-a woman in her sixties living in Turin, Italy-receives a call from her friend Lila’s son back in Naples.
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