A forgotten mid-century genius, recently rediscovered in France and never before translated into English, Hélène Bessette is a treasure and a bracing force to reckon with.Lili Is Crying, Hélène Bessette's debut novel, explores the fraughtness and depth of the troubling relationship between Lili and her mother Charlotte. With a near-mythic quality, Bessette's 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 transformed Bessette into a cult author in France. Moving and maddening in turns, the characters are so trapped in their own cruelty and sorrows, but in its spareness it feels true: "Show me a woman who has actually chosen something." Championed by Raymond Queneau, then an editor at Gallimard, Bessette's novels were hailed for their experimentation, unusual economy...