My mother gave me this book, saying it reminded her of Pride and Prejudice. I think what she meant was, "it reminded me of a BBC costume drama", and I think the costume drama might have been Call the Midwife, because that's about the only connection I can think of that makes any sense. I put off reading it for about three years.

It follows Elena Greco (note: main character has same first name as author) growing up in a poor neighbourhood in Naples, as the only one who makes it out through her success in school. It also follows her friend Lina, who doesn't attend any higher schooling because her family is too poor and forbids it, even though she shows remarkable aptitude.

I think this will be true for a lot of female readers, but it reminded me of some of my own friendships, growing up, of how it feels to see yourself as unattractive and in competition to others, even while you want their affection and respect (although I do think Elenas and Lilas friendship maybe crosses into the romantic here and there but that is entirely up for debate). It also captures beautifully the sense of being out of place by virtue of your abilities and the path you choose, what it feels like to age out of your heritage. Especially towards the end, the heartache it captures of watching people you love start paths you can't join them on and wanting to hold onto them but knowing you can't.

On the other hand, this is also a fair (I was going to write kind, but that's the wrong word, I think) description of Naples in the 1950s and 1960s. Intense poverty, violence, social change, all under the shadow of the war.

Closing thoughts: The title only becomes a good idea once you've read the whole book, until then it's kind of clumsy-sounding.