The Lost Daughter

What is this book about?

Leda, a middle-aged professor, goes alone to the seaside for a holiday. On the beach she meets a young mother with a small daughter, becomes drawn to them, and does things whose motives even she cannot fully explain. What is really stirred up is her own past: years earlier she left her young daughters in order to pursue a life of her own. Ferrante writes about the unclosable gap between motherhood and selfhood, and she does not let anyone look good in the process.

Why read it?

A representative work of the Italian “Ferrante fever,” it takes on motherhood without granting it any dignity by default. Ferrante coolly dismantles the idea that mothering is a woman's nature, arguing that the sanctification of motherhood is often paid for with a woman's own development. It asks for some stamina: there are no tender mothers here, and no choices that can be easily forgiven.

Core Ideas

• Motherhood is not a woman's nature; sanctifying it often amounts to a cruel exploitation of a woman's personal development.
• The tearing between motherhood and selfhood is real, and the mask of “perfect motherly love” hides it.
• A mother leaving her children cannot be judged simply, but it stays in both sides' memory for a long time.
• Treating motherhood as a fallback for women who cannot be independent is a doubtful answer.

What questions does this book try to answer?

• Can a woman who cannot be independent use motherhood as her fallback?
• What does the suffocation and self-sacrifice behind motherly love actually mean, and who bears it?

Who should read it?

For readers of feminist literature and those reflecting on parenthood and motherhood. It is short and coolly narrated, but the emotional pressure is real; if you are currently caught between child-rearing and a self of your own, it may cut.

How to Read It

Originally in Italian, published in 2006, usually rendered in Chinese as《暗处的女儿》. It is one of Ferrante's shorter books, told in the first person, with almost no plot suspense; its force lies entirely in psychological candor. Watch Leda watching the young mother: she is looking at her, and at her earlier self. The source list is explicit — Ferrante tears off the mask of perfect motherly love and shows a woman torn between motherhood and selfhood.