<p><b>THE NO.1 FRENCH BESTSELLER <br><br></b><b>''Stunning and heart-gripping'' </b><b>Andr¿ciman, author of <i>Call Me by Your Name</i></b><br><br><b>''A beautiful, shattering novel about desire and shame, about passionate youth and the regrets of age'' Olivia Laing, bestselling author of <i>Crudo <br></i></b><br>Just 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 carefully timed encounter between two seventeen-year-olds. It''s the start of a secret, intensely passionate, world-altering love affair between Philippe and his classmate, Thomas. <br><br>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.<br><b