THE NO.1 FRENCH BESTSELLER
'Stunning and heart-gripping' André Aciman, author of Call Me by Your Name
'A beautiful, shattering novel about desire and shame, about passionate youth and the regrets of age' Olivia Laing, bestselling author of Crudo
Just outside a hotel in Bordeaux, Philippe, a famous writer, chances upon a young man who bears a striking resemblance to his first love. What follows is a look back to Philippe's teenage years, to a winter morning in 1984, a small French high school, and a carefully timed encounter between two seventeen-year-olds. It's the start of a secret, intensely passionate, world-altering love affair between Philippe and his classmate, Thomas.
Dazzlingly rendered by Molly Ringwald, the acclaimed actor and writer, in her first-ever translation, Besson's exquisitely moving coming-of-age story captures the tenderness of first love - and the heart-breaking passage of time.
'It has been years since anything moved me as much as Lie With Me. It will become a classic.' Jonathan Coe, bestselling author of Middle England
'An intense, unforgettable novel, alive with the ache of longing and loss.' Sarah Waters, bestselling, award-winning author of The Little Stranger and Fingersmith
'Devastating and tender; this is the book I wish I'd read when I was 15, and a book I'm glad to have as a companion now' Andrew McMillan, award-winning author of Physical
'A deeply moving depiction of first love, both tender and elegiac.' John Boyne, bestselling author of A Ladder to the Sky and The Heart's Invisible Furies
'A tender, sensuous novel' New York Times Book Review
'This novel can be read in a matter of hours, but its impact, like the love affair it details, will echo in the mind' Irish Times
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Imprint: Penguin
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Published: 05/09/2019
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ISBN: 9780241987100
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Length: 160 Pages
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RRP: £8.99
Reviews
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A stunning and heart-gripping tale
André Aciman, author of 'Call Me by Your Name'
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A beautiful, shattering novel about desire and shame, about passionate youth and the regrets of age.
Olivia Laing, bestselling author of CRUDO and THE LONELY CITY
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A timeless love story. Molly Ringwald's translation is as clear and beautiful as the story it depicts. You'll read it in a night, but its exquisite heartbreak will linger.
David Ebershoff, author of 'The Danish Girl'
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This gorgeous, aching novel captures all of the fear and freedom of young desire. . . may well be the best gay love story in contemporary fiction. I dare you to read it without crying.
Christopher Bollen, author of 'The Destroyers'
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The uncanny thrill of Philippe Besson's Lie With Me rises up from Molly Ringwald's elegant translation with the intensity of meeting a stranger on a train who tells you a single unforgettable story and then leaves. And his voice haunts me still
Alexander Chee, author of 'How to Write an Autobiographical Novel' and 'The Queen of the Night'
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A lovely novel, a painful story of love and loss. . . Lie with Me succeeds as a novel because of Besson's graceful writing, beautifully translated by Ringwald. Besson is a gifted stylist, and he infuses Philippe's story with the right notes of sadness and longing.
NPR
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Lie With Me is an exquisite whisper that lingers long after you've finished reading it
Kevin Kwan, author of 'Crazy Rich Asians'
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This is a gorgeous fever dream of a book. Ringwald's translation does elegant justice to Besson's balance of beauty and despair, and to his interrogations of memory and longing. Lie With Me positively glows in the dark.
Rebecca Makkai, author of 'The Great Believers'
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A bittersweet love story, told from the perspective of a gay man remembering his first romantic affair as a teenager in a small town in the south of France in 1984.
Wall Street Journal
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At first erotic and joyous, ultimately elegiac and haunting, Lie With Me is a deceptively slender book as big as life itself
Rumaan Alam, author of 'That Kind of Mother' and 'Rich and Pretty'
