Overview Lili is Crying, Hélène Bessettes debut novel, explores the fraughtness and depth of the troubling relationship between Lili and her mother Charlotte. With a near-mythic quality, Bessettes stripped-back prose evokes at once the pain of thwarted love – of desire run cold – and the promise of renewal. Lauded by critics on its initial publication in 1953 for its boundary-pushing style, Lili is Crying marked the beginning of a singular writing career. Bessettes work is translated into English for the first time here by Windham-Campbell Prize-winning author and translator Kate Briggs.