Philippe, a high achieving 17-year-old student, frets about being gay in 1984 Barbezieux, France. Novelist Philippe, who shares many biographical details with the author, falls into a reverie about his first experience of romance when he spots a young man who looks just like his first lover from a couple decades earlier. 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.Besson ( In the Absence of Men) rehashes familiar tropes about secret teenage gay romance in this moving but unoriginal novel. '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 Reviewĭazzlingly 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's the start of a secret, intensely passionate, world-altering love affair between Philippe and his classmate, Thomas.ĭazzlingly 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. 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.

Just outside a hotel in Bordeaux, Philippe, a famous writer, chances upon a young man who bears a striking resemblance to his first love. THE NO.1 FRENCH BESTSELLER AND WINNER OF THE MAISON DE LA PRESSE PRIZE'Stunning and heart-gripping' Andre 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 and The Lonely City.

Besson lie with me