Lie With Me

The award-winning, internationally bestselling novel—“the French Brokeback Mountain” (Elle)—about a love affair between two teenage boys in a provincial high school in 1984 France, brilliantly translated by acclaimed writer and actress Molly Ringwald.

While passing through the village where he grew up, the narrator, Philippe, chances upon a young man who bears a striking resemblance to his first love, Thomas. What follows is an account of the relationship, twenty-five years earlier, between two teenagers from different social spheres: the bookish Philippe and the popular Thomas barely acknowledge one other at school—and yet, stealing time to meet alone, they carry on a passionate and secretive affair. The son of farmers, Thomas is trapped by convention and eventually ends the affair. When, decades later, Philippe encounters Thomas’s son, he finds out what became of Thomas, finally bringing a resolution to the relationship that defined his youth.

Translated by Molly Ringwald, this classic coming-of-age story is rich in 80s nostalgia, the complex dynamics of high school, and the tenderness of first love. A winning and nuanced portrait of two teenagers wrestling with desire and identity, Lie With Me is a heartbreaking and powerful novel from a master of the form.

Philippe Besson?is an author, screenwriter, and playwright. His first novel,?In the Absence of Men, was awarded the Emmanuel-Robles Prize in 2001, and he is also the author of, among others,?Late Autumn?(Grand Prize RTL-Lire),?A Boy from Italy,?and?The Atlantic House. In 2017 he published?Lie With Me, which has sold more than 120,000 copies and was awarded the Maisons de la Presse Prize, and?A Character from a Novel, an intimate portrait of Emmanuel Macron during his presidential campaign. His novels have been translated into twenty different languages.

Molly Ringwald's writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Guardian, and?Vogue, and she is the author of the bestselling novel-in-stories?When It Happens to You.