My Brilliant Friend: Adolescence: Chapter 56 Summary & Analysis

Lila and Lenù are so busy with the wedding preparations that they hardly notice when Rino becomes depressed and agitated again. As the finished shoes sit piled in their boxes in the shop, Rino’s agitation increases. He asks another shoemaker in town to display the shoes in his shop, but the man, “bound hand and foot to the Solaras,” refuses him. Rino explodes in fury at the man, embarrassing his family and drawing Fernando’s ire. Stefano, hearing of Rino’s conflict with the other shoemaker, attempts to soothe Rino by telling him they simply have to find the right storefront for the shoes. Rino becomes determined to find a place in a wealthier neighborhood to sell the shoes.

As the date of the wedding approaches, Lila asks Lenù to accompany her to Maestra Oliviero’s house to deliver a wedding invitation to her old teacher in person. Lenù knows how disappointed and sad Oliviero has been over the years to learn of Lila’s failure to stay in school but accompanies Lila anyway. When Oliviero answers the door of her apartment for the girls and Lila hands her the invitation, Maestra Oliviero says she doesn’t know “who this girl is” and shuts the door on them.

Stefano decides that the speech master at the wedding will be a relative of Donna Maria’s—but just a few weeks before the wedding, he changes his mind. He refuses to tell Lila who the new speech master will be until he at last reveals that he has asked Silvio Solara to do the job. Lila becomes enraged and declares that she never wants to see Stefano again. She shuts herself up in her parents’ house and stops participating in wedding preparations entirely. Her parents and Rino try to talk to Lila and make her understand that a Silvio is “like a bank” and that he’s the only hope for Cerullo shoes to take off. Lila, however, remains immovable.

The Cerullos summon Lenù to the apartment to talk to Lila, but Lenù is tempted to convince Lila to give up the marriage for good and go back to being her old self. At the last minute, though, Lenù realizes that to resign Lila to a life in her parents’ house would be cruel. When she visits Lila, she attempts to remind her that Silvio is not his sons—and if Lila lets him speak at the wedding, he’ll help her and Stefano without having a huge “importance” in their married life. Lila listens to Lenù in silence, accepting what she says—but when Lenù’s done speaking, Lila admits that she doesn’t believe Stefano truly loves her as much as he loves his money. Lila agrees to reconcile with Stefano on the condition that Marcello stay far from their wedding. Stefano swears he will prevent Marcello from attending.