Stunning and heart-gripping` Andre Aciman, author of Call Me by Your Name `A beautiful, shattering novel about desire and shame, about passionate youth and the regrets of age` Olivia Laing, bestselling author of Crudo 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. 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.