Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

Elena Ferrante · b. 1943 · Italy

Originally Storia di chi fugge e di chi resta (Italian) · translated by Ann Goldstein

Why it matters

Lenù escapes Naples for university and marriage while Lila stays behind to survive the neighborhood's poverty and violence on her own terms, as 1970s Italy's political convulsions arrive at their door. The Quartet's most outward-looking volume.

At a glance

A wider historical and political scope than earlier volumes adds context to track.