An ode to female friendships

Elena Ferrante’s magnificent four -book series , the Neapolitan Quartet .

The books are extraordinary for the beautiful way they’re written and their portrayal of family life and class conflict.

But the reason I have fallen in love with the series is because they are fundamentally about female friendship.

At the same time, in my perhaps less high-brow moments, I’ve been watching Amandaland , a spin-off from Motherland .

Last weekend , my family joined one of my school friends and her children for lunch.

Lunch turned to dinner, and our two families watched Gladiators together.

As our eight-year-olds marvelled, we saw it all afresh through adult eyes.

My friend had even raided her office for oversized foam hands of the show’s in-studio audience.