The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante

Elena Ferrante is the pen name of an anonymous Neapolitan author, known for her novel My Brilliant Friend. Praised for capturing the interior dialogue of women, The Lost Daughter is a candid look at the pressures of motherhood.

English Literature teacher Leda has taken a two week holiday let on the Ionian coast. Her grown daughters have gone to live with her ex-husband, and for the first time in twenty-five years, she is free of the anxieties of marriage and motherhood "as if a difficult job, finally brought to completion, no longer weighed me down."

Within a week, she is a fixture on the small beach with the other regulars, where there are umbrellas and a cafe. She starts a casual friendship with a mother and her daughter, as you do when travelling. While Nina sunbathes, Elena played with her beloved doll. When Elena's large Neapolitan family arrives the beach became a noisy party, and the daughter's doll is lost. A frantic search is to no avail and the child is distraught.

This sets Leda thinking back into her unsettled past, confronting the mistakes of motherhood - the times they embarrassed her, when she was unable to solve their demands, and when she wanted to run after her own desires, at one point so overwhelmed she had to leave the children with her husband to not have own her life completely absorbed.

The relationship between Leda and her daughters remains strained, as she sees qualities of herself and her husband reflected in the children. Leda becomes obsessed with Nina, and wants to confide in her. Even to buy a new doll for Nina.

For the doll has not been found.

The inner dialogue of a woman's memories seems difficult to turn into a film, but they did in 2021 with an Oscar-nominated performance by the always excellent Olivia Coleman. Ferrante's "Neapolitan Novels" (My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child) have sold millions of copies and been filmed by HBO.

A woman's identity absorbed by the demands of motherhood and marriage seems forefront in her characters, and I appreciate her style - precise, honest, and without judgement. While good writing crosses all genders and ages, this will resonate with women the most. I'm sure they will recognize it.

2006 / Tradeback / 144 pages