When Myriam, a French-Moroccan lawyer, decides to return to work after having children, she and her husband look for the perfect nanny. They never dreamed they would find Louise: a quiet, polite, devoted woman who sings, cleans and stays late without complaint. But as the couple and the nanny become more co-dependent, jealousy and resentment mount.

Building tension with every page, The Perfect Nanny is a riveting and bravely observed exploration of power, class, race, domesticity, and motherhood.

Book alike: The Maids by Jean Genet (Grove Atlantic)

Leïla Slimani is a novelist and journalist. She was awarded France’s prestigious Prix Goncourt in 2016 for her novel Chanson douce (The Perfect Nanny). Her novel, Adèle, was just published in the US and her latest work, an essay entitled Sexe et mensonges: la vie sexuelle au Maroc, has been nominated for non-fiction prizes in France.