{"product_id":"twenty-minutes-of-silence-9780811240369","title":"Twenty Minutes of Silence","description":"In an opulent villa near the English channel lives a well-to-do family. A man--a husband, father, and employer--has been shot dead. The bullet is from his own gun, which he got from the Germans during the war. In this family, the father has a safe, a monkey wrench, a wife, and a maid named Rose. The son has a swing, a croquet set, a rain coat, and a car. They all read detective novels to fall asleep (the father), to stay awake (the son), to distract herself from an empty marriage (the mother). Packed with brutal revelations, the novel centers on the twenty minutes of silence it takes for the family to alert the doctor (who lives next door) of the father's death. Everything in this high-octane drama is subject to change, including the setting and the characters, who are truer to life than might at first appear. But who if anyone is the true criminal and who is the victim? In this marvelous and sui generis novel, written in Bessette's signature taut and stripped-back prose, the detective novel is turned inside out and wholly on its head.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Hélène Bessette\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e New Directions Publishing Corporation\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/14\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 160\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.42lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.00h x 5.29w x 0.48d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780811240369\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/06\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBessette, Hélène:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eHélène Bessette\u003c\/strong\u003e (1918-2000) published thirteen novels with Gallimard between 1953 and 1973, won the Prix Cazes in 1954, and was twice in the running for the Prix Goncourt and the Prix Médicis. After her editor Raymond Queneau's death in 1976, her publisher ceased to support her. In 2000, she died in poverty and in poor mental health, with her body of work out of print and largely forgotten. It was only several years after her death that her singular articulation of what, with specific intent, she called \"the poetic novel\" found a new and avid readership in France.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBriggs, Kate:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eKate Briggs\u003c\/strong\u003e grew up in Somerset, UK, and is the translator of two volumes of Roland Barthes's lectures and seminar notes: \u003cem\u003eThe Preparation of the Novel\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eHow to Live Together\u003c\/em\u003e, both published by Columbia University Press. \u003cem\u003eThis Little Art\u003c\/em\u003e, her genre-bending essay on the art of translation, was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in 2017. In 2021, she was awarded a Windham-Campbell Prize. Her debut novel, \u003cem\u003eThe Long Form\u003c\/em\u003e, was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in 2023 and shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize.","brand":"booksdeli.com","offers":[{"title":"H\u0026#195;\u0026#169;l\u0026#195;\u0026#168;ne Bessette \/ Paperback \/ English","offer_id":48685122551965,"sku":"9780811240369","price":19.14,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0619\/5648\/9373\/files\/img_c6ecdcbf-a410-45a4-9b33-f690a5ac0615.jpg?v=1784715334","url":"https:\/\/booksdeli.com\/products\/twenty-minutes-of-silence-9780811240369","provider":"booksdeli.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}