The Poverella

Still from Roberto Faenza’s film adaptation of The Days of Abandonment

There’s a character in Elena Ferrante’s 2002 novel The Days of Abandonment who we only learn about through the narrator’s memory.

The “poverella” — a pitiful woman — represents the worst fears of Olga, the book’s main character. Once a vibrant, energetic woman, the poverella seemed to…