My Brilliant Friend: The Neapolitan Novels, Book 1 characters

Also known as Lenù, Lenuccia

Appears from the start

The narrator, looking back on her life from old age after her closest friend disappears. As a child in a poor Naples neighborhood, Elena is diligent, observant, and hungry for approval. She measures herself against Lila's startling intelligence and makes their rivalry a source of ambition, while also trying to understand the violence and social rules shaping their community.

Also known as Lila, Lina

Appears from the start

Elena's brilliant and unpredictable childhood friend, the daughter of a shoemaker. Lila learns with extraordinary speed, refuses to yield when challenged, and can be both fiercely loyal and cutting. Her boldness draws Elena forward even when it frightens her, making their friendship inseparable from competition.

First appears in chapter 2

Lila's older brother, part of the Cerullo household and expected to follow their father into the family shoe trade. Rino is forceful, proud, and strongly conscious of the family's standing in the neighborhood.

First appears in chapter 3

A feared moneylender and former black-market dealer whose name dominates the children's imagination. Elena and Lila regard him as the source of much of the neighborhood's danger and go to confront him after their dolls vanish into a cellar.

First appears in chapter 20

Don Achille's eldest son, now working in the Carracci family's growing grocery business. Stefano presents himself as calmer and more modern than the older generation whose violence shaped the neighborhood.

First appears in chapter 19

Lila's father, a shoemaker who expects his children to work and obey. He is proud, quick-tempered, and unwilling to pay for Lila to continue her schooling despite her exceptional ability.

First appears in chapter 19

Elena's mother, a practical woman burdened by poverty and domestic work. Her physical presence and sharp manner trouble Elena, yet she recognizes that Elena's success at school may offer the family an unusual opportunity.

First appears in chapter 19

The elementary-school teacher who recognizes both girls' ability. She admires Lila's precocious mind but, after Lila's family ends her formal education, invests her attention in Elena and presses Elena's parents to let her keep studying.

First appears in chapter 19

The son of a carpenter imprisoned for Don Achille's murder and a friend from Elena and Lila's childhood circle. Serious and politically alert, Pasquale interprets neighborhood wealth and violence through class conflict.

Also known as Carmen

First appears in chapter 19

Pasquale's younger sister and one of Elena and Lila's neighborhood companions. Her family's hardship after her father's imprisonment gives her an early familiarity with work and insecurity.

First appears in chapter 20

The gifted son of the railway worker and poet Donato Sarratore. Quiet and academically accomplished, Nino becomes an early object of Elena's admiration and represents a life of education beyond the neighborhood.

First appears in chapter 14

The grocer's son and a childhood classmate of Elena and Lila. Though he struggles in school beside them, Enzo is steady and capable, and he treats Lila's intelligence with less resentment than many of the neighborhood boys do.

First appears in chapter 52

The son of the widowed Melina Cappuccio and a mechanic by trade. Antonio belongs to Elena's neighborhood circle and approaches her with an earnestness shaped by the obligations and anxieties of his struggling family.

First appears in chapter 58

The older Solara brother, whose family owns the neighborhood bar and has money, influence, and a reputation for Fascist connections. Marcello is confident that status and persistence will secure what he wants, and his attention to Lila is unwelcome to her.

First appears in chapter 30

Marcello's younger brother and a close partner in the Solara family's business and neighborhood influence. Michele is more controlled than Marcello but carries the same assurance that the brothers can impose their wishes on others.

First appears in chapter 10

Don Achille's younger son and one of Elena's schoolmates. Alfonso is mild and studious compared with the forceful men around him, and his friendship with Elena connects her school life to the Carracci family.