The Advocateâs Best Gay Novel of 2019
A New York Times Book Review Editorâs Choice
O, The Oprah Magazineâs Best LGBTQ Books That'll Change the Literary Landscape in 2019
The Wall Street Journalâs Ten Books Youâll Want to Read this Spring
Out's Best Queer Books of April 2019
TheSkimmâs LGBTQ+ books to celebrate Pride
âStunning and heart-gripping.â âAndrĂŠ Aciman, author of Call Me By Your Name
The award-winning, bestselling French novel by Philippe Bessonââthe French Brokeback Mountainâ (Elle)âabout an affair between two teenage boys in 1984 France, translated with subtle beauty and haunting lyricism by the iconic and internationally acclaimed actress/writer Molly Ringwald.
We drive at high speed along back roads, through woods, vineyards, and oat fields. The bike smells like gasoline and makes a lot of noise, and sometimes Iâm frightened when the wheels slip on the gravel on the dirt road, but the only thing that matters is that Iâm holding on to him, that Iâm holding on to him outside.
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 heâs 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, Bessonâs powerfully moving coming-of-age story captures the eroticism and tenderness of first loveâand the heartbreaking passage of time.