Lie with Me - BookWyrm

Hardcover, 149 pages

English language

Published April 29, 2019 by Scribner.

ISBN:: 978-1-5011-9787-1

(1 review)

Just outside a hotel in Bordeaux, Philippe chances upon a young man who bears a striking resemblance to his first love. What follows is a look back at the relationship he’s never forgotten, a hidden affair with a gorgeous boy named Thomas during their last year of high school. Without ever acknowledging they know each other in the halls, they steal time to meet in secret, carrying on a passionate, world-altering affair.

Dazzlingly rendered in English by Ringwald in her first-ever translation, Besson’s powerfully moving coming-of-age story captures the eroticism and tenderness of first love—and the heartbreaking passage of time.

2 editions

Jason reviewed Lie with Me by Molly Ringwald

An Engrossing Immersion into Past Gay Love

4 stars

Content warning Avoid the end of the review if you haven't watched the film

A delight to listen to on Audible - observations on youth, aging, loss and love told in greater depth than the film, and the observations on gay youth are even more profound. The ways we hide, the people we believe we're supposed to be - it's not an LGBTQIA+ phenomenon, but Besson nails tender minutiae we forget over time, as well as the effect time has on our expectations and feelings about love. Stéphane's path intersecting with Lucas' may be a little contrived, but it's a niggling issue. The fleetingness of all our intersections, romantic or otherwise is very much championed by Besson & his translator Ringwald (who is herself a revelation) - with the final act revelations about Thomas' demise highlighting love's bittersweetness across time.