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1. Turning Ugly

4 Extra Debut. A teenage girl uncovers family secrets and lies in 1990s Naples. Giovanna is turning ugly. Read by Juliet Aubrey.

"Two years before leaving home my father said to my mother that I was very ugly."

A teenage girl uncovers family secrets and lies in 1990s Naples.

Novel written by Elena Ferrante, first published in 2019

Abridged in five parts by Sara Davies

As Giovanna moves from childhood into adolescence, she becomes fascinated with her father's sister Vittoria, from whom he is estranged.

She goes down from the affluent heights of Naples where she has grown up in a wealthy left-wing family, into the depths of the rough neighbourhoods of her father's youth.

As she begins to excavate her family history, everything of which she was certain unravels.

Read by Juliet Aubrey

Produced by Mary Ward-Lowery and Mair Bosworth

First broadcast on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 4 in August 2020.

Elena Ferrante is author of the Neapolitan quartet of novels:

* My Brilliant Friend
* The Story of a New Name
* Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay
* The Story of the Lost Child

14 minutes

Last on

Tue 12 Aug 2025 03:30

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  • Mon 31 Aug 2020 12:04
  • Mon 31 Aug 2020 22:45
  • Mon 11 Aug 2025 08:30
  • Mon 11 Aug 2025 13:30
  • Mon 11 Aug 2025 19:30
  • Tue 12 Aug 2025 03:30