Some good writers learn to write shorter. "Lie with Me" (Scribner) is Philippe Besson's 18th book, written in 2016 in what one suspects was one of those seizures of composition that produce such ...

Besson (In the Absence of Men) rehashes familiar tropes about secret teenage gay romance in this moving but unoriginal novel. Novelist Philippe, who shares many biographical details with the author, ...

Let me tell you: My apartment in Paris is located near the Centre Pompidou. If you’ve ever visited the French capital, you know what I’m talking about — that big contraption that looks like a colorful ...

“In the Absence of Men”by Philippe Besson disguises itself as a “Call Me by Your Name”-esque, trampling, coming-of-age, off-kilter love story, but in actuality, it expels as a backwards unrealistic ...

Philippe Besson (born 29 January 1967 in Barbezieux-Saint-Hilaire, Charente) is a French writer. In 1999, Besson, a law graduate, was inspired to write his first novel, En l'absence des hommes while ...