Whether you’ve read all four “Neapolitan novels” or are currently following the HBO series, Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend and its sequels have captivated readers and viewers worldwide.
With such strong and memorable characters, you may find yourself with a Lenù- or Lila-shaped hole in your heart once you’ve finished the series.
But don’t worry—while there may not be a fifth installment, we’ve got a list of books like My Brilliant Friend that can help cure your book hangover.
Books Like My Brilliant Friend
Here are 10 books like Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend that feature complicated friendships, strong female leads, and powerful journeys of self-discovery.
1. The Years That Followed by Catherine Dunne
Calista is a young, beautiful, and headstrong woman living in Dublin. When she falls in love with the charming Alexandros and moves to his home country of Cyprus, their whirlwind courtship morphs into a dark and violent marriage.
Meanwhile, in Madrid, Pilar is determined to leave her life of poverty behind her. She works hard and saves money, and finds herself enchanted by an older, married man.
Taking readers across the lush backdrops of Spain, Greece, and Ireland, The Years That Followed tells of two women who never meet, but whose lives are nearly ruined by one family. Their plots for retribution will send shockwaves through their families that will be felt for generations to come.
2. Everything Here Is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee
Everything Here Is Beautiful follows two Chinese-American sisters through the years and across miles.
Miranda is the older, responsible sibling, and has always been her younger sister’s protector. Lucia is headstrong and unpredictable, with impulses that often have life-changing consequences.
When Lucia develops a mental illness, Miranda leaves her life in Switzerland to once again rescue her sister. But only Lucia can decide whether she wants to be rescued, and the bonds of sisterly devotion will be tested, upending both of their lives along the way.
3. Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras
Seven-year-old Chula enjoys a carefree life, oblivious to the upheaval raging outside her gated neighborhood in Bogotá.
When Chula’s mother hires Petrona, a live-in teenaged maid from the city’s guerrilla-occupied slum, Chula becomes fascinated by the girl and her mysterious ways.
But Petrona is crumbling under the weight of providing for her family while her first love pulls her in the opposite direction.
As both girls’ very different families try to maintain stability amidst the rapidly escalating conflict, Petrona and Chula find themselves caught in a web of secrecy and forced to choose between sacrifice and betrayal.
4. History: A Novel by Elsa Morante
History is the story of the widowed Ida Mancuso, a schoolteacher living in Rome with her teenaged son during the worst of World War II.
When a German soldier on his way to North Africa rapes and impregnates her, the baby’s survival becomes Ida’s sole focus.
The book is loosely based on the author’s own experiences of hiding with her husband for one year among remote mountain villages south of Rome.
5. Ponti by Sharlene Teo
This 50-year saga follows Szu and Circe, two Singaporean teens who form an intense friendship. Szu lives in a dark, dank house with her mother, Amisa, who was once a beautiful actress but now performs séances with her sister.
When Szu meets the privileged Circe, the two develop a fraught friendship that will haunt both of them for decades.
As a work project requires her to examine Amisa’s film career, Circe finds herself falling back into her memories of Szu and her mother nearly 20 years after their first meeting.
6. Girls Burn Brighter by Shboha Rao
Like young Lenù and Lila, Poornima and Savitha are two poor, but ambitious, girls. After her mother’s death, Poornima is left to care for her siblings until her father can find her a suitable wife.
So when her father hires Savitha to work in the family clothing business, Poornima is intrigued by the joyful, independent-minded girl.
Suddenly their Indian village doesn’t feel so claustrophobic, and Poornima begins to imagine a life beyond arranged marriage. But when Savitha runs away, Poornima leaves behind everything she has ever known to track down her friend in a journey that spans continents.
7. Secrets We Kept by Krystal A. Sital
Amidst the lush landscapes of Trinidad, Krystal A. Sital grew up idolizing her grandfather, a wealthy Hindu landowner.
Years later, to escape crime and economic stagnation, her family relocated to New Jersey, where Krystal’s mother worked as a nanny, and the warmth of her native Trinidad seemed little more than a pretty but distant memory.
When Krystal’s grandfather lapses into a coma after a fall, the women he has terrorized for decades begin to speak, and a brutal past comes to light. This is how Krystal learns the long-kept secrets of her family’s past, and how her foremothers survived and found strength in themesleves.
8. From the Land of the Moon by Milena Agus
In this novella, a young, anonymous Sardinian woman reflects on the life of her eccentric and fiercely emotional grandmother, whose search for love spanned much of the twentieth century.
In 1943, she was 30 years old and considered an old maid, still living with her parents. When the bombing of Cagliari finally ceases, her father forces her to marry the first man to propose.
After several miscarriages, she is sent for treatment at a spa on the mainland, where she falls in love with an injured Italian war veteran. Back home, she gives birth to a son, but never tells her husband about the affair.
Decades later, she travels to the veteran’s hometown of Milan, dressed in her finest coat and shoes, wandering the streets in search of her former lover.
9. Nada by Carmen Laforet
Loosely based on the author’s own life, Nada follows an orphaned young woman who leaves her small town to study in war-ravaged Barcelona.
Andrea meets a wealthy group of schoolmates, who represent a stark contrast to the squalor of her home life, and as experience overtakes innocence, she gradually realizes the disquieting truth about the people in her life.
Andrea’s personal journey blends with the political turmoil of the time, much like Lenù in the Neapolitan novels, leading her to realize things she never would have found if she hadn’t left home.
10. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
Eilis Lacey has come of age in small-town Ireland, during the difficult years following World War II. When an Irish priest from Brooklyn offers help Eilis immigrate to America, she decides she must go, leaving her fragile mother and charismatic sister behind.
In her new, foreign home of Brooklyn, Eilis finds work in a department store and love with Tony, a nice boy who loves the Dodgers and his big Italian family.
But just as Eilis begins to fall in love with Tony and her new life, devastating news from Ireland threatens her bright future.
What Should You Read If You Like My Brilliant Friend?
If you haven’t already, then you should naturally read the other three books that follow My Brilliant Friend in the Neapolitan quartet to continue the whirlwind that is the life of Elena and Lila.
If you’ve completed the series and are hungry for more brilliant stories, check out more books by Elena Ferrante. I promise there’s not a bad one in the bunch.
Are you a fan of Elena Ferrante’s books? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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As a blog writer for TCK Publishing, Kaelyn loves crafting fun and helpful content for writers, readers, and creative minds alike. She has a degree in International Affairs with a minor in Italian Studies, but her true passion has always been writing. Working remotely allows her to do even more of the things she loves, like traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family.
