- The Washington Post
 
NEW YORK — The alleged revelation of the real name of best-selling author Elena Ferrante has led to a wave of criticism and to a surge in sales for her acclaimed quartet of “Neapolitan” novels.

As of midday Monday, two of the books placed high on Amazon.com’s “Movers and Shakers,” works that have jumped furthest on the overall best-seller list over the past 24 hours. Book One, “My Brilliant Friend,” ranked highest at No. 46 on best-seller list. The four novels, original published in Italian, have sold more than 1 million copies worldwide and set off intense speculation over Ferrante’s identity.

The author wrote under a pen name well before her recent success, telling the Paris Review in 2015 that she disliked self-promotion and found that public anonymity opened a “creative space” for her work.

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