My Brilliant Friend

As Pinuccia returns to Naples, a new secret excites Lila and numbs Elena. Subdued by Lila's charisma and indifferent to Bruno's flattery, Elena finds herself the keeper of a far darker clandestine series of events involving Donato Sarratore. After the girls encounter Michele and Gigliola, Lila seizes the opportunity to throw the whole truth in Stefano's face.

Following her summer on Ischia, Elena throws herself into her studies and looks towards a future outside of the neighborhood. After a brilliant finals performance, Elena happens upon Lila, who is working at the shoe store and has grand plans for a fresh start. Lila decides to leave Stefano and moves into a modest apartment, but the failings of her plan soon emerge.

Three years into her time in Pisa, Elena has developed into an elegant and cultured young woman--but still feels like an outsider. After a consequential breakup, Elena falls ill and is visited by her mother, who has come to nurse her back to health. During the night, Elena takes to reading Lila's diaries, which were entrusted to her for safekeeping; in these tomes, Elena discovers Lila's dedication to her new role in the face of Stefano's increasingly violent behavior.

Elena pens her first novel, which she entrusts to her new fiancé, before returning to Naples, where she finds Lila in her new life as a factory worker.