Italy best-seller Elena Ferrante's novels get TV adaptation

Italian literary sensation Elena Ferrante's best-selling Neapolitan novels about female friendship are being adapted for television, with the author, who writes under a pseudonym, helping transform the books for the small screen.

Television and film producer Wildside, currently producing the Paolo Sorrentino drama "The Young Pope" starring Jude Law, has struck a deal with Italy's Fandango Productions to co-develop and co-produce Ferrante's novels.

The quartet of stories, recently added to the New York Times' "best 10 books of 2015" list, portrays the gritty lives of Elena and Lila from childhood to motherhood against the social and political backdrop of 1950's Naples.

"We?re very privileged to be working closely with the superbly talented Ferrante and Fandango productions to bring this rich, gripping and highly-addictive collection of novels to life," Wildside's managing director Lorenzo Mieli was quoted as saying in a statement.

"Ferrante's works portray a fascinating and intense insight into past times, and the stories and characters have become a literary obsession for many fans all over the world," he said.

So has the writer's real identity, with some claiming there are hints from her writing that she is really male, while others point to correspondence with journalists in which the author has referred to herself as a mother.

Fandango CEO Domenico Procacci said the production company had been working on "My Brilliant Friend", the first in the series, for two years "and we've seen the potential of this project grow day by day".

"I'm confident that together with Wildside we can realize something great, very respectful of Ferrante's work and our Italian culture and, at the same time, with real international appeal," he said.

FremantleMedia acquired a 62.5 percent majority stake in Wildside in August 2015 in a bid to expand its prime-time scripted business and said the adaption of the Neapolitan novels was "one of a number of international projects for the company", which has also snapped up the rights to Italian author Niccolo Ammaniti's futuristic novel "Anna".