Chapter 1 jumps back in time, before the murder. The book’s omniscient third-person narrator introduces Paul and Myriam Massé, who are preparing to interview nannies for their kids, Mila and Adam. Paul has a list of requirements, including “[n]o illegal immigrants […] not too old, no veils, and no smokers” (5).

The couple’s decision to hire a nanny is driven by Myriam. A lawyer, Myriam has long been eager to get back to work—but she was embarrassed to admit that she “felt as if she were dying because she had nothing to talk about” apart from her children (9). Myriam hates admitting that she’s a stay-at-home mother, fearing societal judgment.

When Myriam told Paul about her desire to go back to work, he reacted negatively, “ridiculing her ambitions and reinforcing the impression she had that she was a prisoner in this apartment” (12). However, Myriam has hit her limit of staying home with the children. She has become so bored with being a stay-at-home mom, she has even started shoplifting regularly.

Myriam is eager to find a nanny, but she is also afraid to entrust her children to a stranger. Myriam’s greatest fear is that her children will die, and she “shakes her head […], recites prayers, touches wood and the Hand of Fatima that she inherited from her mother” to get rid of the worst-case scenarios she keeps imagining (15).