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Viking will publish French author Philippe Besson's award-winning novel Lie With Me, translated by actress and author Molly Ringwald.
Isabel Wall, assistant editor at Viking, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Lie With Me by Besson, translated by “The Breakfast Club” actress, from Paul O’Halloran at Scribner US on behalf of the French publishing house Editions Julliard. The Penguin Random House imprint will publish the novel in September 2019, it was previously published in France by Editions Julliard.
The novel follows what happens when outside a hotel in Bordeaux, Philippe, a famous writer, chances upon a young man who bears a striking resemblance to his first love. What follows is a look back to Philippe's teenage years, to a winter morning in 1984, a small French high school and a timed encounter between two 17-year-olds. “It’s the start of a secret, intensely passionate, world-altering love affair between Philippe and his classmate, Thomas,” the synopsis reads.
Viking said: "Dazzlingly 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."
Besson is based in France and is the author of a number of award-winning novels and screenplays. The French edition of Lie With Me sold over 120,000 copies according to Viking and won the prestigious Maison de la Presse prize.
Ringwald's writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Guardian and Vogue and she is the author of the short story collection When It Happens to You (Simon & Schuster UK), acquired in 2012. She has also been an actress and singer.