International audiences will have to wait another six months to get their hands on Elena Ferrante’s latest novel The Lying Life of Adults. In Italy, though, the book has been out since November when it was met with considerable fanfare by the reading public.

This was the event of Italy’s 2019 literary calendar, a moment which saw bookshops across the peninsula besieged by midnight queues of adoring fans. Beyond the hype, though, the question remains: how good is this latest offering from one of Italy’s most loved authors?