The Days of Abandonment -- Elena Ferrante, Paperback
From the New York Times-bestselling author of My Brilliant Friend, this novel of a deserted wife's descent into despair--and rage--is "a masterpiece" (The Philadelphia Inquirer).
The Days of Abandonment is the gripping story of an Italian woman's experiences after being suddenly left by her husband after fifteen years of marriage. With two young children to care for, Olga finds it more and more difficult to do the things she used to: keep a spotless house, cook meals with creativity and passion, refrain from using obscenities. After running into her husband with his much-younger new lover in public, she cannot even refrain from assaulting him physically.
In a "raging, torrential voice" (The New York Times), Olga conveys her journey from denial to devastating emptiness--and when she finds herself literally trapped within the four walls of their high-rise apartment, she is forced to confront her ghosts, the potential loss of her own identity, and the possibility that life may never return to normal.
"Intelligent and darkly comic." --Publishers Weekly
"Remarkable, lucid, austerely honest." --The New Yorker
Author: Elena Ferrante
Publisher: Europa Editions
Published: 09/01/2005
Pages: 192
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.30w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781933372006
Age Range: 18-UP
Review Citation(s):
New York Times 09/25/2005 pg. 27
Booklist 09/15/2005 pg. 31
New Yorker (The) 10/31/2005 pg. 87
Library Journal 10/15/2005 pg. 44
Publishers Weekly 07/11/2005 pg. 59
New York Review of Books 12/18/2014 pg. 67
About the Author
Elena Ferrante is the author of The Days of Abandonment (Europa, 2005), Troubling Love (Europa, 2006), The Lost Daughter (Europa, 2008) and the Neapolitan Quartet (Europa 2012-2015). She is also the author of a children's picture book illustrated by Mara Cerri, The Beach at Night.
Ann Goldstein is an editor at The New Yorker. Her translations for Europa Editions include novels by Amara Lakhous, Alessandro Piperno, and Elena Ferrante's bestselling My Brilliant Friend. She lives in New York.