I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to reading this brilliant novel that a friend brought me months ago. It reminds of one of the reasons I love to read--total immersion in another life, another place. The place is Naples in the Fifties--a village-like street in the poor part of town. We follow the early lives of two ambitious girls in minute detail, at the same time absorbing the inter-family politics of their small world. I found it riveting. And lucky me!--there are three more books. The quartet is meant as a novel in installments.
And there's a television series (see picture above)--which I won't watch until I've read the other three books. I'm having to restrain myself from reading any summaries of their plots (this is a bit like a soap opera but with excellent writing, and I really want to know what happens but please don't tell me.) On reflection, I think I do know what put me off at first. At the beginning of the book is a daunting cast of characters and I probably read it and decided there was no way I could remember all those names and put the book back down.
This time, I just leaped over the cast and started right in. I was hooked at once. And while there are a lot of names, I only needed to turn back to consult the character list two of three times.
A terrific read! I'd love to hear if any of you have read the other three books and, if so, what you thought of them. Ditto for the television show.
My next read is THE OVERSTORY . . .
