This is The Writer's Voice, new fiction from The New Yorker.

I'm Debra Treesman, fiction editor at The New Yorker.

On this episode of The Writer's Voice, we'll hear Leila Slamani read her story, The Confession,

from the February 18th and 25th, 2019 issue of the writer's voice will hear Leila Slamani read her story, The Confession, from the February 18th and 25th, 2019 issue of the magazine. Slamani is the author of the novel The Perfect Nanny, which won the pre-goncourt in France in 2016, and was published in the U.S. last year.

Another novel, Adele, was published here in January.

Now here's Laila Slimani.

The Confession I Can't Tell You My Name, or the Name of the Rural Village where this story took place.

My father is a feared and respected men there, and I do not want to bring shame upon him.

He was born on those fertile plains, but he made his career in the city, where he became an important

man who wears suit and drives a big car. In my 16th summer, he sent me to that hole to learn the hard life of the countryside,

to strengthen my soul and my muscles.

I don't want you to be like those idle boys who wander our streets, he told me.

There, you will learn how to live.

My memories of that summer are easy.

All the days blurred into one and I could find nothing

to distract myself from the boredom.

I offered to help with farm work,

but nobody dared put me to such a thankless task

because I was a judge's son and my arms were so thin. The other teenagers in the

village kept their distance. When they met up to drink stolen beers in the evening, they never

invited me to join them. I could hear them laughing and burping from my bedroom, where I lay and stared

up at the earthen ceiling for hours on end.

...