The Lost Daughter

The Lost Daughter is a novel published by writer Elena Ferrante in 2006, in Italian (original title: La Figlia Oscura), and translated to English by Ann Goldstein in 2008. The novel was adapted to cinema in the film of the same name, in Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut, starring Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley and Dakota Johnson. Plot Leda is a forty-eight-year-old English teacher who decides to spend the summer holidays on the Ionian coast. Her twenty-year-old daughters, Bianca and Marta, are in Canada with her ex-husband Gianni, so Leda is free to spend time alone. After renting a small penthouse with a sea view, the woman goes to the beach and begins her vacation. Already on the first day she notices a young mother with her little daughter and the two impress Leda not only because they are decidedly more refined than the rest of their rough family, but also because she sees in them echoes of her own past. As the days go by, Leda continues to observe the Neapolitan family, learns its dynamics and discovers the names of the young mother and the child: Nina and Elena. Leda's fascination for the couple pushes her to discover more and more about them, also thanks to the young lifeguard Will. Over the weekend, the family expands with the arrival of other relatives, including Nina's husband, an older and less refined man for whom Leda feels an instant repulsion. While she rages into the joyful noise of the beach, Leda realizes that Nina is desperately looking for Elena and the teacher recalls a similar episode from her youth, when she had lost her daughter on the beach. Moved with compassion, Leda goes in search of Elena and ends up finding her and bringing her back to her family. She also finds the girl's doll and, without knowing why, hides it in her bag and takes it away with her.