Twenty Minutes of Silence

<p>In 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 <em>Twenty Minutes of Silence</em>, 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, <em>Twenty Minutes of Silence</em> is a vital interrogation of the powerlessness of childhood, the compromises of adulthood, and the conventions of the novel itself.</p>