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About the Author

Marjorie R. Williams author photo_credit Kent Lineback
French-Moroccan Leila Slimani is the bestselling author of The Perfect Nanny (Chanson douce), which sold 600,000 copies in its first year of publication, making Slimani the most-read author in France in 2016. It was for this novel that she was awarded France’s Prix Goncourt, and she became the second Moroccan and the twelfth woman to receive the prestigious award. Her first novel, Adèle (Dans le jardin de l’ogre), was given the La Mamounia Literary Prize. A journalist and frequent commentator on women’s and human rights, Slimani is French president Emmanuel Macron’s personal representative for the promotion of the French language and culture.








About Adèle

bilingual-revolution
Driven less by pleasure than compulsion, Adèle organizes her day around her extramarital affairs, arriving late to work and lying to her husband about where she’s been, until she becomes ensnared in a trap of her own making. Suspenseful, erotic, and electrically charged, Adèle is a captivating exploration of addiction, sexuality, and one woman’s quest to feel alive.

About The Perfect Nanny

bilingual-revolution
A #1 international bestseller and winner of France’s most prestigious literary prize, the Goncourt, 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.

Sponsors

This event is made possible thanks to the support of the Consulat Général de France à Boston and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy:

Consulat
embassy
MosaiqueCharter1Web_Logo Rose-Noir ss Fund

Upcoming Events

Saturday, May 9, 2026

We invite parents and children to gather in the children's room of our library for a magical story time in French!

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Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Join us for an evening with acclaimed author Violaine Huisman as she presents her new novel, The Monuments of Paris, a sweeping exploration of family, memory, and a little-known chapter of French history during the Second World War.

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Talks & Discussions

Virtual Event: Ann Scott in Conversation

Presented in partnership with Harvard Bookstore

Thursday, May 14, 2026

Join us off-site at Harvard Book Store for a conversation with French author Ann Scott, winner of the 2023 Prix Renaudot, for the release of her cult novel Superstars.

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