Lest we be accused of coming late to the party, we aren't. The pseudonymous Elena Ferrante, whose sudden fame in the wake of her 4-volume masterpiece, The Neopolitan Novels, erupted from a standing start in a matter of months, is undergoing a further metamorphosis - in film.

The books that comprise her memorable quartet - My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child - concern a lifelong friendship between two impoverished girls growing up on the tough streets of 1950s Naples, and their subsequent ups and downs. Whether read singly, or as a whole, it is a remarkable achievement; but all four books will reach an even larger audience in the wake of a joint Italian-American venture to produce the entire series for TV: a massive undertaking, involving no less than 32 episodes, which show - to judge by an early glimpse - the making of a masterpiece in itself.

Nothing, however, can improve on the books themselves, which remain both a monument to both this highly original writer and her singular translator.

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