The Man Booker International Prize celebrates translated fiction at its finest. Now an annual prize awarded to a single novel or collection of short stories, it can truly highlight the best of translated fiction from around the world. Both the writer and the translator will be rewarded equally for their contribution, showcasing the crucial role they each play in the finished book.
The full shortlist of six titles can be found here, but in this series of articles we will look at each title in detail.
The Story of the Lost Child
The fourth and final instalment of the Neapolitan Novels series, this is the dazzling saga of the friendship between two women: brilliant, bookish Elena and fiery, uncontainable Lila. Both women fought to escape the neighbourhood in which they grew up: a prison of conformity, violence, and inviolable taboos. Against the backdrop of a Naples that is as seductive as it is perilous in a world undergoing massive change, this story of a lifelong friendship is told with unmatched honesty.
Have you read The Story of the Lost Child? You can leave a review or add the book to your group’s reading list.
Want to know more? Download our reading notes for The Story of the Lost Child, including information about the author and translator, as well as some discussion questions about the book.
Want ideas on what to read next? We’ve created a supporting booklist with suggestions of other books that have links to the themes of The Story of the Lost Child, including female friendship and rivalry, books set in Naples, and the dark side of organised crime.
A word from External Relations Book Group
External Relations Book Group is one of the reading groups who are shadowing the Prize this year, and are reading The Story of the Lost Child.
“Our Book Group was set up in 2015 to meet for lunch and to converge on great books. Our readers work on very different areas – our External Relations team at the University of Dundee is large and manages events, marketing, alumni & development, admissions & recruitment and design – but we’re all agreed that leaving the desk for a bookish natter is a lovely way to get to know each other, and to spend some time with brilliant books, words and ideas. We’re delighted to be shadowing the International Man Booker Prize 2016 and can’t wait to compare notes on the mysterious Elena Ferrante.”
Get involved
Join in the conversation on Twitter using #MBI2016. You can also follow the publisher Europa Editions, and the External Relations Book Group on Twitter.
Keep up with all the latest news on the Man Booker International Prize website, and on Instagram.
