Elena and Lila’s story is just months away from its small screen premiere. The first teaser has dropped for “My Brilliant Friend.” Based on Elena Ferrante’s international bestseller of the same name, HBO’s eight-episode drama tells the story of Elena and Lila, best friends with a complicated history and dynamic.

The first of four books in the Neapolitan Novels, “My Brilliant Friend” introduces us to Elena, an elderly woman who discovers that the most influential friend in her life, Lila, has disappeared. The writer begins chronicling their decades-long friendship, taking readers along for the ride. The pair first bond in 1950s Naples, and it’s this chapter of their lives that the teaser focuses on.

“I was convinced nothing could stop her. Her disobedience always led to something wondrously breathtaking,” says Elena. Both girls are known for their intelligence, but its Lila, a rebel, who stands out as a prodigy. Neither family supports their daughter’s academic pursuits. Elena’s reluctantly agrees to pay for her to attend middle and later high school, but Lila’s family refuses, setting the girls on different paths.

“My Brilliant Friend” premieres in November. Elisa Del Genio and Gaia Girace play Elena at different ages, and Ludovica Nasti and Margherita Mazzucco take on the role of Lila.