They could hardly be more different, yet they are inseparable: Lila and Elena, best friends since they were young girls. And they will remain so for their entire lives, over six decades, until one disappears without a trace and the other looks back on everything they shared to uncover the mystery of this disappearance.

In 1950s Naples, they grow up in a poor, vibrant, working-class neighborhood, where rough swearing fills the streets, families have been feuding for generations, and New Year's fireworks turn into a shootout. Here, they attend school: the unconventional, daring shoemaker's daughter Lila and the shy, diligent Elena, the daughter of a porter, both competing to be better than the other. Until Lila's father forces his young daughter to work permanently in the shoemaking shop, leaving Elena with the gnawing suspicion that an opportunity has been taken from her that should have belonged to her friend.

Their paths diverge: one leaves, studies, and becomes a writer, while the other never leaves Naples. Nevertheless, Elena and Lila remain close, supporting each other through first loves, marriages, the experience of motherhood, years of work, and episodes of political awakening. Two headstrong, unyielding women who must assert themselves against the demands of a brutal, male-dominated world.

They stay close to each other, but it is always an ambiguous closeness: a mix of estrangement and affection, rivalry and intimacy, envy and something that is greater and quieter than love. Is this the secret of Lila's disappearance?

Elena Ferrante has written a literary masterpiece of immeasurable brilliance, a vivid portrayal populated by captivating characters, and a grippingly sincere epic—about the saving and destructive, world-changing power of friendship.