The Days of Abandonment

A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE 21st CENTURY

"Remarkable, lucid, austerely honest."--The New Yorker

Elena Ferrante's shattering English-language debut remains an unforgettable reading experience for her die-hard readers and a thorny pleasure still to be discovered for the millions of fans who only know her from My Brilliant Friend. "A masterpiece," according to the Philadelphia Inquirer; "Stunning," says The New Yorker; "Nothing prepares you for the ferocity of it," wrote Amy Rowland in The New York Times. Even two decades after its first publication, The Days of Abandonment remains a groundbreaking, propulsive, and cathartic account of a woman's wrath.

Olga's husband of fifteen years has announced that he is leaving her. In a "raging, torrential voice" (New York Times) that is nonetheless "intelligent and darkly comic" (Publishers Weekly), Olga recounts her journey from denial to devastating emptiness. When she finds herself trapped within the four walls of her apartment, she is forced to confront her ghosts, the potential loss of her own self, and the possibility that life may never return to normal.

"If that's not a great literary novel, I don't know what is."--Kate Christensen, ELLE

Elena Ferrante is the author of The Days of Abandonment (Europa, 2005), which was made into a film directed by Roberto Faenza, Troubling Love (Europa, 2006), adapted by Mario Martone, and The Lost Daughter (Europa, 2008), soon to be a film directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. She is also the author of Incidental Inventions (Europa, 2019), illustrated by Andrea Ucini, Frantumaglia: A Writer's Journey (Europa, 2016) and a children's picture book illustrated by Mara Cerri, The Beach at Night (Europa, 2016). The four volumes known as the "Neapolitan quartet" (My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child) were published by Europa Editions in English between 2012 and 2015. My Brilliant Friend, the HBO series directed by Saverio Costanzo, premiered in 2018.

Ann Goldstein has translated into English all of Elena Ferrante's books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Lying Life of Adults and The Story of the Lost Child, which was also shortlisted for the Booker International Prize. She has been honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship and is the recipient of the PEN Renato Poggioli Translation Award. She lives in New York.