The Perfect Nanny

This novel focusses on the murder of two children by a nanny. Based on a true case, in NYC of a nanny who kills two young children, Slimani weaves themes of racial and social injustice into her story, told through the eyes of the narrator. Despite the horror of the crimes, readers will gain a understanding of how and why the nanny, Louise, ends up taking such extreme action. Though fictionalised, it offers an accurate psychological portrait of profound disturbance and the internal logic that drives fatal assaults.

This gripping novel is based on the 2012 murder case in New York City in which two children were stabbed to death by their nanny. From the first gripping sentence, “The baby is dead” until the last, this psychological thriller set in Paris never lets up with a fast pace and smart sentences. I loved this book. Although it portrays my worst fear, it does so with sophisticated empathy for all involved. As NPR said about the book, “In Slimani’s hands, the unthinkable becomes art.” I devoured it in two days.