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Lie with Me

By: Philippe Besson, Molly Ringwald - translator
Narrated by: Jacques Roy
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Publisher's summary

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 10 Books You’ll Want to Read this Spring

Out's Best Queer Books of April 2019

TheSkimm’s LGBTQ+ books to celebrate Pride

“Stunning and heart-gripping.” (André Aciman, author of Call Me by Your Name)

The award-winning, best-selling French novel by Philippe Besson - “the French Brokeback Mountain” (Elle) - about 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 I’m frightened when the wheels slip on the gravel on the dirt road, but the only thing that matters is that I’m holding on to him, that I’m 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 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.

©2019 Philippe Besson (P)2019 Simon & Schuster
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: LGBTQ+
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What listeners say about Lie with Me

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Great Sadness

It was awfully sad ! I wanted a happily gay ending :/ Daymn! But in all, I highly recommend this beautiful novel and the audio book is well performed

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Deserving of the Plaudits

Passion...heart...well placed. It's been a while since I read (listened to) a book and wanted more in the end. Great job by the author.

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Unsatisfying Ultimately

I regret that the author didn’t flesh out Lucas’ character more. The book, while eminently readable, seemed too self-centered to me. It could have been much more compelling.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Poetic story

This was a very well written and narrated book. Almost like a poem in its flow and emotion. I plan to listen to it again and marvel in its construction.

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Beautiful and Haunting

This is a story of a very imperfect love of two boys. It's hauntingly human and beautifully told in three parts: one as boys in 1984, one in 2007 where a chance encounter stirs up old feelings, and finally one in 2016, where the story reaches it's poignant conclusion.

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Beauty and sadness

I so loved this wonderfully written and translated novel. it takes place in the 70s through to 2016, starting in a time when gay love was forbidden in Europe, and how lovers disconnected from each other to live their "real" lives.
I really related to the stories, and think anyone would.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Coming of age story of a famous French writer.

I don't know if this is a singular story as I have read many coming of age stories. It left me wanting more.

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A fatal flaw

This is the first writer to actually capture my own story, every wondrous and painful step of it. But no words, even Besson’s eloquent ones, can describe a lifetime of a secretly stabbing, unrequited love. So we carry the wound alone, which makes Besson’s gift all the more exceptional and healing.

What I hated about the audible version was obvious to any empathetic person: the narrator appears incapable of connecting with the human condition at any level. His performance was as cold and disinterested as the proverbial phone book. In that sense he murdered this powerful, insightful story of the human soul.

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amazing but sad

such a great book, i wouldnt really call it a love story. i would have loved the book even more if the end was a happy one, for a change

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Lovely

Sweet. Tender. Heartbreaking. But it’s a lovely story that I will gladly listen to again.

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