What a relief it is when an author who has written a masterpiece returns to prove the gift intact. Was it ever in question for Elena Ferrante, the pseudonymous Italian author whose four-volume novel known as the Neapolitan quartet made her one of the most celebrated writers alive? Maybe not, but success has a way of spoiling things.

Since the 2002 publication of “The Days of Abandonment” (translated into English by Ann Goldstein in 2005), Ferrante has been known for her portraits of intense and intelligent women as they stare down the ugly side of female experience: infidelity, reluctant motherhood and the push-and-pull of competitive friendship.