and women had a right to choose who to marry. And what was Joseph Bonaparte’s influence when he was the King of Naples? I think the greatest impact can be seen in the Neapolitan language.

The Neapolitan novels, as the Italian author’s beloved tetralogy is called, chronicle the friendship between two ambitious young women over the course of 50 years and some 1500 pages.

"The Neapolitan Novels," taken together as one long epic that stretches from childhood to old age, are so smart about the darker currents of female friendships, the discrepancies between sexual ...

Passions run high when you’re talking about Ferrante and her work, particularly her sensational, highly addictive Neapolitan novels, which paint a portrait of a consuming female friendship ...