Lullaby
Ratings11
Average rating3.6
15
Ratings11
Average rating3.6
WINNER OF THE DEBUT NOVEL OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS 2019 A SUNDAY TIMES TOP 100 NOVEL OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY The baby is dead. It took only a few seconds. When Myriam, a brilliant lawyer, decides to return to work, she and her husband look for a nanny for their two young children. They never dreamed they would find Louise: a quiet, polite and devoted woman who sings to their children, cleans the family's chic Paris apartment, stays late without complaint and hosts enviable birthday parties. But as the couple and their nanny become more and more dependent on each other, jealousy, resentment and suspicions increase, until Myriam and Paul's idyllic domesticity is shattered . . .
Reviews with the most likes.
I know some found faults with Lullaby and I do agree it isn't a faultless novel. However I found it a gripping and well executed whydunnit with a dark ‘The Virgin Suicides' vibes. I found the depth to Louise's character that included : loneliness, financial vulnerability, maternal frustration and mental health conditions, fascinating and it allowed me to find the plot dense and ambiguous instead of rather cliched which I really appreciated about the novel. I found the musings on women's balance between home maker and career woman and the guilt Myriam feels for returning to work really intriguing and powerful in this book. There were only a few nitpick issues I had with the structure and form of the novel but I think that is down to the translation from the French. Overall I think it had a thriller vibe while still being a much deeper literary read about relationships, loneliness and poverty. I fell in love with this dark story from the first 20 pages. It satisfies all my love for dark and psychologically gripping plots and so I have unashamedly given it a 5 star rating as it gave me an extremely pleasurable reading experience. I would happily try any work by the author in the future.
