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  • The Story of the Lost Child

  • The Neapolitan Novels, Book 4
  • By: Elena Ferrante
  • Narrated by: Hillary Huber
  • Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (648 ratings)
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The Story of the Lost Child cover art

The Story of the Lost Child

By: Elena Ferrante
Narrated by: Hillary Huber
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Summary

The Story of the Lost Child concludes the dazzling saga of two women—the brilliant, bookish Elena and the fiery, uncontainable Lila—who first met amid the shambles of postwar Italy.

In this book, life’s great discoveries have been made; its vagaries and losses have been suffered. Through it all, Elena and Lila’s friendship remains the gravitational center of their lives. Both women once fought to escape the neighborhood in which they grew up. Elena married, moved to Florence, started a family, and published several well-received books. But now, she has returned to Naples to be with the man she has always loved.

Lila, on the other hand, never succeeded in freeing herself from Naples. She has become a successful entrepreneur, but her success draws her into closer proximity with the nepotism, chauvinism, and criminal violence that infect her neighborhood. Yet, somehow, this proximity to a world she has always rejected only brings her role as unacknowledged leader of that world into relief.

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

What listeners say about The Story of the Lost Child

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    4 out of 5 stars
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European narrators please

Beautifully written story. Taking one into the unconscious realms of the mind. This book in particular would have benefitted from an English speaking Italian narration. The content is so evocative of Italy and Italians it was slightly annoying having an American reading.

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4 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Unfulfilled promise

Enjoyed book one very much, as it evoked the era and captured the atmosphere well; the characters were well developed.
However, by the fourth book they became caricatures and the narrative repeative.
The ending was especially poor; a build up which did not deliver.
NB: an alternative narrator would be preferable.

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3 people found this helpful

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  • C
  • 27-05-16

A feel-bad story

How grim a read. How depressing, negative, bitter, malicious in almost every way. And the style was either painfully staccato or else drawn-out metre with interminable clauses and sub-clauses. I could not wait to finish. The author was such an unlikeable character I could not empathise the slightest with the ongoing misery, egocentric-driven neglect, jealousy.... Grim grim grim.

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2 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyed it.

Bitter sweet end to my love affair. Performance consistent and credible. I will miss you Hillary!

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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An Amazing Quartet


I love these books. I came to them reluctantly, hating to follow the crowd, but I would, and frequently do, wholeheartedly recommend them to friends. The writing is wonderful without being self-conscious.

These are truly wonderful books. Weeks after reading them I am still in that Neapolitan neighbourhood, surrounded by squalor and violence to witness the palpable yearning of two little girls whose ambitions could not be contained within its boundaries.


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    4 out of 5 stars
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The lost child

Enjoy listing to the finished book
Often I stopped to read back as I did not understand

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

excellent reading of the shocking conclusion .

The fascinating continuation of this powerful, intriguing story of two women.
the most shocking events bring the book to life, though I found some sections overly and repetitively self reflective.

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irene

I've just finished book 4 & I don't think the author's finished her story. I wait for the next book with anticipation.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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I'm a Neapolitan now!

A superb read! After reading the four volumes I now feel I've actually lived through all these experiences which will stay with me forever!

A truly remarkable work!

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Captured

I’ve listened to all of these books and I have been captured by the narrative and the narrator. It has been a truly wonderful series and I now want to listen all over again. What’s it about? Simply, the lives of two women… beautifully told with crystal clarity, detail and sensitivity.

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