Twenty Minutes of Silence

Author(s): Bessette, Helene, Binding: Paperback, Date of Publication: 18/06/2026, Pagination: 180 pages, Series: N/A, Imprint: Fitzcarraldo Editions, Published By: Fitzcarraldo Editions, Book Classification: Classic fiction (pre c 1945), Dimensions: 197 x 121 ISBN13/EAN/SKU: 9781804272152In a family home in the north of France, a crime has been committed. But a crime of what order? Who exactly is the victim and who, if anyone, is the criminal? In Twenty Minutes of Silence, Hélène Bessette unleashes a polyphonic investigation, multiplying perspectives, contradictions, questions and doubts. Everything in this high-octane drama is subject to change, including the lighting and the basic facts of the case. Composed in her signature poetic prose style, Bessette’s novella builds a world punctured by startling disruptions and unexpected shifts, and in doing so destroys and remakes the crime novel, creating a form wholly new. Devastating and exuberant, Twenty Minutes of Silence is a vital interrogation of the powerlessness of childhood, the compromises of adulthood, and the conventions of the novel itself.