I'll Take the Fire A Novel

From one of the most fearless and captivating voices in world literature, a sensual and provocative coming-of-age novel about a young Arab woman on a quest for sexual and political freedom

“Leila Slimani is one of our best writers, a master stylist and an exquisite storyteller. I read anything she writes.” —Rabih Alameddine, National Book Award–winning author of The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)

Q: If your house was burning down, what would you take with you?
A: I’d take the fire.
                           --Jean Cocteau

Mia Daoud yearns to be free. Growing up in socially conservative Morocco, her imagination fired by her banker father’s charisma and political idealism, her doctor mother’s feminist example and social conscience, and the boundless possibilities suggested by her favorite authors, she learns to go after what she wants, even if it means jumping through fire to get it. Determined to be true to her sexuality and to differentiate herself from her adoring younger sister, she sets out in search of her place in the world, from Casablanca to Paris to London, and against the backdrop of era-defining events like the fall of the Berlin Wall and 9/11, guided by a preternatural sense of justice and an unerring instinct for what makes her feel most alive. Combining vigorous poetry and unflinching bravery, Leila Slimani’s autobiographical novel is a rousing ode to living a life of purpose and consequence.

Leila Slimani is the bestselling author of The Perfect Nanny, one of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of 2018, for which she became the first Moroccan woman to win France’s most prestigious literary prize, the Goncourt. Her other books include Adèle, Sex and Lies, and the #1 international bestsellers In the Country of Others and Watch Us Dance. Slimani was French president Emmanuel Macron’s personal representative for the promotion of the French language and culture, and was the chair of the jury for the 2023 International Booker Prize. She was ranked #2 on Vanity Fair France’s annual list of the Fifty Most Influential French People in the World. Born in Rabat, Morocco, in 1981, she divides her time between France and Portugal.

Sam Taylor is the award-winning translator of more than sixty books from French, including all of Leila Slimani’s fiction.