Re: Summer 2016 | Page 50

Avoid a wrong turn with care planning BOOK REVIEW Stopping for independent financial advice can make a big difference My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante (translated by Ann Goldstein) How am I going to pay for my care? How much might it cost me? This is the first novel in the epic saga that has been dubbed “the Neapolitan Novels.” It starts with the disappearance of one elderly woman and continues with the narrator recounting their 50 year friendship but it is for the fourth novel, and not this one, to provide the conclusion. However this book stands well alone should you not have the appetite for the full series. Will I have to sell my house? What can I afford? First published in 2012 I may be a little late to the book but the final novel of the series was only published last year and 2016 is certainly the year for Elena Ferrante who has just been shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize and been named by Time Magazine as one of 2016’s “100 Most Influential People.” All this despite the fact that “Elena Ferrante” is a pseudonym and the author has managed to conceal her true identity for nearly 25 years. In fact we can only assume “she” is a she but the general consensus is that only a woman would be able to write so movingly and truthfully about the lifelong relationship of two women, the contradictions of love and rivalry, sisterhood and jealousy that are all so present that they almost gain a physicality. 01243 642121 www.westsussexconnecttosupport.org/ carewise [email protected] l l l Help to consider clients’ care options Money advice and benefits check Comprehensive care services information Approved care fee specialists who are: – – – – – – I am always nervous of a novel that has to start with an index of characters, especially as the Italian names are not naturally familiar to me. However from the start you are swept into life in 1950s Naples and I love a story that has a qualified independent financial advisers specialists in long-term care advice accredited by the Society of Later Life Advisers approved by Trading Standards’ Buy with Confidence trained in safeguarding adults Disclosure and Barring Service checked WS31459 4.16 l socio-economic backdrop so you can feel like you’re smarter on your historical knowledge by the end. Elena and Lila are both gifted students in a poor but vibrant neighbourhood, their paths diverge and yet the friendship (and all its obvious and subtle complexit ies) endures. The writing is brilliant and absorbing with a real depth to the believable characters. I was lucky to be on holiday whilst reading this so I could devour it in huge chunks in a short space of time. I’ve already ordered the follow ups and indeed in physical form so I can thrust them into the hands of those not converted to Ferrante and thereafter give them an exclusive place on my bookshelf. I apologise in advance to my friends and family who I will be ignoring for the next few weeks! By Rebecca Louis