Philippe Besson is an author, screenwriter, and playwright. His first novel, In the Absence of Men, was awarded the Emmanuel-Roblès 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, a #1 French bestseller that won the 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. She previously translated Lie with Me, a novel by Philippe Besson.
The Advocate's Best Gay Novel of 2019
A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice
O, The Oprah Magazine's Best LGBTQ Books That'll Change the
Literary Landscape in 2019
The Wall Street Journal's Ten Books You'll Want to Read this
Spring
Out's Best Queer Books of April 2019
TheSkimm's LGBTQ+ books to celebrate Pride "[A] study in intimacy
... the novel captures the full tragedy of the closet ... Equal
parts Andre Aciman and Marguerite Duras."
--Ayten Tartici, The New York Times Book Review "Philippe Besson's
book of a lifetime ... An elegiac tale of first, hidden love
between two teen-age boys who have no chance of a shared future,
Lie With Me sold more than a hundred thousand copies in France,
where it won several prizes and is being made into a movie. Elle
deemed it "the French Brokeback Mountain" ... The book reads like a
photograph, faded but composed: the bac, linden trees, a green
Simca 1100, Lino Ventura. We can see even if we don't know. Call it
a memoir of a memory."
--Lauren Collins, The New Yorker "This Year's Call Me by Your Name
Is French: More Meta But Just As Hot ... Lie With Me is the story
of a successful (unnamed) French novelist ... who catches a glimpse
of what he thinks is a past lover in a hotel. Triggered by the
sighting, he traces the story of his secret high-school affair with
that lover: It was brief in tenure but formed the mold into which
he has since tried to press every other romantic relationship."
--Hillary Kelly, Vulture "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. . . . perfectly captures
what it's like to be young and in love ... [a] lovely novel."
--Michael Schaub, NPR.org "French author Philippe Besson's
international best seller Lie With Me is now available Stateside
thanks to actor, author, and erstwhile Parisian Molly Ringwald's
fluid translation. Told in three parts, the slender novel recounts
a clandestine romance between two teenage boys in 1984 ... More
than 20 years after his last encounter with Thomas, Philippe runs
into his former lover's doppelganger, and a chance discovery
shatters the gentle reverie of the past. Small ripples can make the
fiercest waves."
--Lauren Mechling, Vogue "Ultimately, [Lie With Me is] simply a
beautiful and poignant love story, a short and very French tale
whose sparse, delicate prose is gorgeously translated by Molly
Ringwald, retaining all of its heart-stopping power. If one can
look past the tough-guy facades of the main characters - and
Besson's vivid first-person narration does wonders at revealing the
churning thoughts and repressed feelings hiding behind such
exteriors - one can easily lose oneself in this gorgeously
resurrected memory of '80s love, with all its awkward beauty and
lost innocence."
--Pop Matters "Introspective and evocative, Lie With Me is an
absorbing story about passionate love thwarted by class differences
and homophobia. The slim novel takes on a great deal in a short
amount of space and establishes Molly Ringwald as a skilled
translator."
--Michael Kaler, Lambda Literary "People call Lie With Me, a 1984
teenage romance novella, the French Brokeback Mountain. A sexy,
pure, and radiant story, this book has been republished for US
readers, and translated by Molly Ringwald. Yes, that Molly
Ringwald! This is a great gift book, a quick plane-read, and
honestly, better than Brokeback Mountain. Don't miss it!"
--Fran Tirado, Out.com, 8 Queer Books to Read in April "A French
bestseller likened to Call Me By Your Name and Brokeback Mountain,
the novel marks the first English translation by the actress and
writer Ms. Ringwald, a longtime Francophile."
--Rebecca Makkai, Wall Street Journal, The 10 Books You'll Want to
Read This Spring "Molly Ringwald translated this French Call Me By
Your Name-esque novel about two teenagers in 1984 Bordeaux as they
fall in love in the shadows, leaving one of them to reflect on the
relationship many years later."
--OprahMag.com, 30 of the Best LGBTQ Books in 2019 "Lie with Me
succeeds as a novel because of Besson's graceful writing,
beautifully translated by Ringwald."
--Easton Caller "It's as immediately involving and heart-breaking a
tale of gay first love as I can recall... direct and
devastating."
--The Bay Area Reporter
"I remember the movement of his hips pressing against the pinball
machine. This one sentence had me in its grip until the end. Two
young men find each other, always fearing that life itself might be
the villain standing in their way. A stunning and heart-gripping
tale."
--André Aciman, author of Call Me by Your Name "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 "Lie With Me is an
exquisite whisper that lingers long after you've finished reading
it."
--Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians and China Rich Girlfriend
"It's the rare kind of story that reminds you--deep in a place
you've almost forgotten--what a miracle it is, and what a
heartbreak, to fall in love even once."
--Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror "In spare yet evocative
prose, elegantly translated by Molly Ringwald, Philippe Besson
relates the erotic awakening of two adolescent boys in a small
French town in the 1980s. Lie With Me captures their world with the
grainy poignancy of an old high school yearbook, while movingly
conveying the quintessential human dramas of longing, love, and
letting go."
--Caroline Weber, author of Proust's Duchess: How Three Celebrated
Women Captured the Imagination of Fin-de-siècle Paris "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 "A timeless love story, written with the
unmistakable ache of truth. 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 and The 19th Wife "At
first erotic and joyous, ultimately elegiac and haunting, Lie With
Me is a deceptively slender book as big as life itself."
--Rumaan Alam, the author of That Kind of Mother and Rich and
Pretty "This gorgeous, aching novel captures all of the fear and
freedom of young desire. Besson's sharp, compressed prose gets
right to the heart of what it means to have to fall in love in
secret. Thanks to Ringwald's pitch-perfect translation, this
affecting and sexy elegy may well be the best gay love story in
contemporary fiction. I dare you to read it without crying."
--Christopher Bollen, author of Orient and The Destroyers "I read
this novel from start to finish without stopping, steadily undone
by its honesty, humility and grace. It's the rare kind of story
that reminds you--deep in a place you've almost forgotten--what a
miracle it is, and what a heartbreak, to fall in love even
once."
--Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror
"There's much book-to-filmstar appeal in this moving, well-plotted
tale: Elle dubbed it "the French Brokeback Mountain"; there's
something of Call Me by Your Name's Elio in Philippe, who lives in
the books he reads and writes; and actress and writer Ringwald ably
translates."
--Booklist "Moving ... Besson's writing and Ringwald's smooth
translation provide emotional impact."
--Publishers Weekly "Besson is a thoughtful writer who can strike
home with vivid imagery . . . . [and] deftly translated [by
Ringwald]."
--Kirkus
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