One of the 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR of The New York Times Book ReviewNational Bestseller“A great novel . . . Incredibly engaging and disturbing . . . You read the entire novel knowing something terrible is coming. In that, Slimani has us in her thrall.” —Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist and Hunger“A book . . . that I’ve thought about pretty much every day . . . [It] … author of Bad Feminist and Hunger
“A book . . . that I’ve thought about pretty much every day . . . [It] felt less like an entertainment, or even a work of art, than like a compulsion. I found it extraordinary.” —Lauren Collins, The New Yorker
“One of the most important books of the year. You can’t unread it.” —Barrie Hardymon, NPR’s Weekend Edition
She has the keys to their apartment. She knows everything. She has embedded herself so deeply in their lives that it now seems impossible to remove her.
When Myriam decides to return to work as a lawyer after having children, she and her husband look for the perfect nanny for their son and daughter. They never dreamed they would find Louise: a quiet, polite, devoted woman who sings to the children, cleans the family’s chic Paris apartment, stays late without complaint, and hosts enviable kiddie parties. But as the couple and the nanny become more dependent on one another, jealousy, resentment, and suspicions mount, shattering the idyllic tableau. Building tension with every page, The Perfect Nanny is a compulsive, riveting, bravely observed exploration of power, class, race, domesticity, motherhood, and madness—and the American debut of an immensely talented writer.
The #1 international bestseller and winner of France’s most prestigious literary prize, the Goncourt, by the author of Adèle and Sex and Lies
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The Perfect Nanny might seem like your run-of-the-mill psychological thriller, but it’s so much more. The dread is palpable: Right from the opening scene, you know something horrifying is coming, but you can’t look away. I followed Parisian mother Myriam and her children’s nanny, Louise, toward the nightmarish ending with clenched teeth. This is a novel you won’t forget.
Dark and disturbing with an ironic title that tells the whole story. Boundaries are crossed between employers and their nanny; between the nanny and the kids she cares for; and expectations in a marriage with two people who forget the boundaries between themselves and their work. The Paris setting is especially evocative–especially a street scene very late in the novel. The conclusion isn’t a surprise, but it is horrifying.
I interviewed Leila Slimani at the Booksmith in San Francisco in 2018, following the American release of The Perfect Nanny (originally Chanson Douce, which means “sweet song,” in French). This is a quick, engaging read that deftly explores the complicated relationships between affluent parents and those they hire to take care of their children. Although the novel is inspired by a brutal true-life crime, the narrative focuses not on the crime itself but on the daily life of the family, the nanny’s psychology and her life outside the home, and the simmering tensions that eventually erupt into an unthinkable crime. Slimani received the prestigious Prix Goncourt for this novel.
A creepy thriller that unravels some really interesting questions around class and race and parenting. I imagine this could be a really nice choice for a book club who enjoys psychological thrillers.
I’m not sure what I think of this book. I finished it in less than 24 hours, so it held my interest. I just can’t say I liked the ending. Throughout the book you, know what terrible event happens, so the book then takes you through everything that happens up to that point and slightly beyond. My biggest problem with the ending is that it leaves way too many unanswered questions and leaves you very unsatisfied.
Reading the reviews (including a compelling piece touting the book in The NY Times) this book is quite the mixed bag. Reviewers lived it while it left many readers flat. I also struggled with 3 versus 4 stars, finally going with 4. The story line — two dead children and a seemingly “perfect” nanny who is anything but. Probably my biggest complaint is the length, which could have been cut, and the overly long build up the the conclusion you knew from page 1.
The plot concerns a family hiring a nanny after the mother, Myariam, returns to her career as a lawyer. From almost the first, Louise, the nanny in question, is too good to be true. She cleans, cooks, tames the kids. But before long she is showing subtle signs of cracking — a tantrum over the daughters lost cardigan, substantial tax bills. Even when the mother determines that Louise has taken a chicken carcass from the trash, cut off the meat and fed it to the children, the family retains her. It becomes as much a question of how much we’ll the family take and still retain her as when does she become homicidal.
And she does. Slowly. Too slowly to fully engage readers. And the snapping point is almost anticlimactic when it occurs.
All and all a good but not great read. While I’m not sure why all the hype, it’s solid but could have done with a heavier editing hand.
The Perfect Nanny, or Lullaby as it has been re-titled, is a dark novel translated from French, and one of my favourite reads of 2018.
As I’ve been reading through other reader reviews of Lullaby, I’ve noticed that opinion is pretty mixed about this one, and I think that might be down to the way this book has been marketed. While Lullaby contains many of the common themes of a domestic suspense novel, it isn’t written in the same tone as a psychological thriller, and it isn’t paced like a thriller. This is more of a literary novel about a dark subject matter. I think it is a page-turner, but not because of thrills and spills, it’s because of the compelling prose and interesting characters.
A terrible crime has been committed at the beginning of this novel, two young children have died and the nanny is the main suspect. Then the story goes back in time, showing you the events that gradually lead up to the crime. This is a tragedy of circumstances, and psychology. This book is both a social commentary and a character study. It has a stripped back feel, offering glimpses into the lives of the various characters, their different places in society, their anxieties, their desires.
While the crime is ever-present, it isn’t always the main focus, and that feels refreshing to me. Another writer might have played on our emotions, over-emphasising the tragic deaths, but the book would be worse for it. Instead, this one leaves the reader with questions to answer in their own minds. To ponder on the events of the book, and make their own judgements about ‘the perfect nanny’ and the lives that were taken.
Sarah A. Denzil
Bestselling author of Silent Child
The Perfect Nanny is a psychologically gripping page-turner. Incredibly, this book is not laced with violence and profanity, just a subtle creepiness that gives you pause.
Every working mothers worst fear….
A Parisian couple, Paul and Myriam are in search of the perfect nanny when Myriam decides to go back to work as a lawyer. The book opens with the murder of two children by their nanny. The children are Paul and Myriam’s and the nanny is not as perfect as they thought. A book with subtle hints to racism by the couple is why the couple selects Louise who is a perfect neat middle-aged woman. Louise is everything and then more to the couple and as the story slowly unfolds you will question who Louise is and why the couple continue to have her in their home. It is not a thriller but a slow plodding story about being careful who we let into our homes.
Good true to life story. Really demonstrated the way life has a way of happening.
Not bad, but falls into too many of the wanna-be Gone girl tropes. Does not bring much new to the psychological thriller genre.
I just wanted to know what happened to the nanny at the very end – how was justice served? How were the parents?
This book fell flat for me.
While this ended too abruptly for my satisfaction, the story was riveting and the narration performance well done. I really expected a twist, but unless I missed something, the storyline was fairly predictable. It was what the author did with the story that most impressed me.
What can I say. If you like twisted psychological thrillers then you should read this. It is quite disturbing. But an excellent read.
Recently I’ve been reading a lot of nice books with happy endings and was in the mood for something a bit more…complicated. This book certainly delivered! The Perfect Nanny tells the story of Louise, a nanny hired to look after the young children of Myriam and Paul, a wealthy Parisian couple. The novel traces the development of the relationship between Louise, her employers and her young charges before she ultimately murders the children in cold blood. This isn’t a spoiler, it happens on the first page! The novel begins with the crime scene and we are left to watch the story unfold with growing dread, as we sense the inevitable horrific conclusion draw closer and closer. This is a brilliantly paced psychological thriller and a nuanced and literary examination of the anxieties of modern motherhood.
I absolutely loved this book — brilliant characters, heartbreaking story, and a real stand-out amongst the various nanny/au pair/flawed parent plot lines at this time. Very highly recommended!
I was actually not a fan of this book like most people. The first page had me captured, but afterwards I was looking for the climax that never happened. I had to push through to finish it.
Too depressing