4 Books for a Holiday Weekend
These thoughtful, gripping reads are as transporting as a weeklong vacation.
By Kerri Arsenault
1 of 4
The Perfect Nanny
By Leila Slimani
240 pages;
Penguin Books
Translated by
Sam Taylor
This thriller's first sentence, "The baby is dead,"
is a parent's worst nightmare. What follows, at least for a short time, is a
parent's dream. Myriam and Paul, an affluent Parisian couple, hire Louise, the
perfect nanny. Louise cleans, cooks and organizes their house and their lives, loves
the children unconditionally, and isn't an "illegal immigrant," as Paul
says, ticking off her qualifications. When Myriam questions her decision to
return to work, nascent feelings of jealousy toward Louise surface, but the
nanny has become indispensable. "You look at her," thinks Myriam, "and
you do not see her. Her presence is intimate but never familiar." The
omniscient point of view in which the story is told illuminates the treatment
of domestic workers, the petty ugliness that can be endemic to marriage, and the
primal fears that accompany having children. A taut page-turner about what can happen
when no one pays attention to what matters most.
— Kerri Arsenault
Published 02/05/2018