The Days of Abandonment

THE NEW YORK TIMES' BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY 25M copies of Elena Ferrante's books sold worldwide “Stunning… the raging, torrential voice of the author is something rare.” — The New York Times THE BREAK-OUT NOVEL BY THE INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF MY BRILLIANT FRIEND Rarely have the foundations upon which our ideas of motherhood and womanhood rest been so candidly questioned. This compelling novel tells the story of one woman’s headlong descent into what she calls an “absence of sense” after being abandoned by her husband. Olga’s “days of abandonment” become a desperate, dangerous freefall into the darkest places of the soul as she roams the empty streets of a city that she has never learned to love. When she finds herself trapped inside the four walls of her apartment in the middle of a summer heat wave, Olga is forced to confront her ghosts, the potential loss of her own identity, and the possibility that life may never return to normal again. “Ferrante puts hammer to flesh and invites her reader to penetrate the page.” — Financial Times “Extraordinary.” — The London Review of Books

THE NEW YORK TIMES' BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY 25M copies of Elena Ferrante's books sold worldwide “Stunning… the raging, torrential voice of the author is something rare.” — The New York Times THE BREAK-OUT NOVEL BY THE INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF MY BRILLIANT FRIEND Rarely have the foundations upon which our ideas of motherhood and womanhood rest been so candidly questioned. This compelling novel tells the story of one woman’s headlong descent into what she calls an “absence of sense” after being abandoned by her husband. Olga’s “days of abandonment” become a desperate, dangerous freefall into the darkest places of the soul as she roams the empty streets of a city that she has never learned to love. When she finds herself trapped inside the four walls of her apartment in the middle of a summer heat wave, Olga is forced to confront her ghosts, the potential loss of her own identity, and the possibility that life may never return to normal again. “Ferrante puts hammer to flesh and invites her reader to penetrate the page.” — Financial Times “Extraordinary.” — The London Review of Books

A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE 21st CENTURY "Remarkable, lucid, austerely honest."-- The New Yorker Elena Ferrante's shattering English-language debut remains an unforgettable reading experience for her die-hard readers and a thorny pleasure still to be discovered for the millions of fans who only know her from My Brilliant Friend . "A masterpiece," according to the Philadelphia Inquirer ; "Stunning," says The New Yorker ; "Nothing prepares you for the ferocity of it," wrote Amy Rowland in The New York Times. Even two decades after its first publication, The Days of Abandonment remains a groundbreaking, propulsive, and cathartic account of a woman's wrath. Olga's husband of fifteen years has announced that he is leaving her. In a "raging, torrential voice" ( New York Times ) that is nonetheless "intelligent and darkly comic" ( Publishers Weekly ), Olga recounts her journey from denial to devastating emptiness. When she finds herself trapped within the four walls of her apartment, she is forced to confront her ghosts, the potential loss of her own self, and the possibility that life may never return to normal. "If that's not a great literary novel, I don't know what is."--Kate Christensen, ELLE

A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE 21st CENTURY "Remarkable, lucid, austerely honest."-- The New Yorker Elena Ferrante's shattering English-language debut remains an unforgettable reading experience for her die-hard readers and a thorny pleasure still to be discovered for the millions of fans who only know her from My Brilliant Friend . "A masterpiece," according to the Philadelphia Inquirer ; "Stunning," says The New Yorker ; "Nothing prepares you for the ferocity of it," wrote Amy Rowland in The New York Times. Even two decades after its first publication, The Days of Abandonment remains a groundbreaking, propulsive, and cathartic account of a woman's wrath. Olga's husband of fifteen years has announced that he is leaving her. In a "raging, torrential voice" ( New York Times ) that is nonetheless "intelligent and darkly comic" ( Publishers Weekly ), Olga recounts her journey from denial to devastating emptiness. When she finds herself trapped within the four walls of her apartment, she is forced to confront her ghosts, the potential loss of her own self, and the possibility that life may never return to normal. "If that's not a great literary novel, I don't know what is."--Kate Christensen, ELLE