"Agent Harlan McClain has his target in sight. But he's not pulling the trigger. Instead his assignment is providing Stacy Giordano--the governor's aide--with security. An easy job for a former marine sniper. And yet, the guarded single mother's beauty and devotion to her exceptional child soon have Harlan reshuffling his priorities. In the dead of night, in her bed, he promises to keep her and her son from harm. But when an unexpected crisis arises, Harlan is suddenly torn between keeping his word, and taking out a killer"--Publisher.
“The Nanny kept me in white-knuckled suspense until the very last page. Gilly Macmillan’s breakout thriller is a dark and twisted version of Downton Abbey gone very, very wrong.” — Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author The New York Times bestselling author of What She Knew conjures a dark and unpredictable tale of family secrets that explores the lengths people will go to hurt one another. When her beloved nanny, Hannah, left without a trace in the summer of 1988, seven-year-old Jocelyn Holt was devastated. Haunted by the loss, Jo grew up bitter and distant, and eventually left her parents and Lake Hall, their faded aristocratic home, behind. Thirty years later, Jo returns to the house and is forced to confront her troubled relationship with her mother. But when human remains are accidentally uncovered in a lake on the estate, Jo begins to question everything she thought she knew. Then an unexpected visitor knocks on the door and Jo’s world is destroyed again. Desperate to piece together the gaping holes in her memory, Jo must uncover who her nanny really was, why she left, and if she can trust her own mother… In this compulsively readable tale of secrets, lies, and deception, Gilly Macmillan explores the darkest impulses and desires of the human heart. Diabolically clever, The Nanny reminds us that sometimes the truth hurts so much you’d rather hear the lie.
Not quite part of the family and more than just an employee; idealised and demonised, the nanny has always had a difficult role in family life. Any discussion of nannies arouses strong emotions in those who have employed them and reveals a sometimes shocking range of experiences both for the nannies and for the children they looked after. Winston Churchill as a child rarely saw his mother and idolized his nanny, paying for fresh flowers to be maintained on her grave and keeping her portrait by his bedside till he died. A nanny to the one of the principal landowning families in Dorset nearly starved their treasured heir to death, while a Suffolk nanny found parting from one of her charges so traumatic that she suffered a mental breakdown. This book weaves personal stories viewed through the eyes of nannies, mothers and children into a fascinating cultural history of the iconic British nanny. Katherine Holden goes beyond the myths to discover where our tradition of employing nannies comes from and to explore the ways in which it has and has not changed over the past century. From the Norland Nannies' 'method' and the magical Mary Poppins, to the terrifying breach of trust in films, The Nanny and The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, to today's child-tamer 'Supernanny', our culture has alternately welcomed and rejected this approach to child-care. The tales told in this history reach to the heart of the nanny dilemma that parents still struggle with today.
Written by two former nannies, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, The Nanny Diaries deftly punctures the glamour of Manhattan's upper class. Now a major motion picture starring Scarlett Johansson and Laura Linney. Wanted: One young woman to take care of four-year-old boy. Must be cheerful, enthusiastic and selfless--bordering on masochistic. Must relish sixteen-hour shifts with a deliberately nap-deprived preschooler. Must love getting thrown up on, literally and figuratively, by everyone in his family. Must enjoy the delicious anticipation of ridiculously erratic pay. Mostly, must love being treated like fungus found growing out of employers Hermès bag. Those who take it personally need not apply. Who wouldn't want this job? Struggling to graduate from NYU and afford her microscopic studio apartment, Nanny takes a position caring for the only son of the wealthy X family. She rapidly learns the insane amount of juggling involved to ensure that a Park Avenue wife who doesn't work, cook, clean, or raise her own child has a smooth day. When the Xs' marriage begins to disintegrate, Nanny ends up involved way beyond the bounds of human decency or good taste. Her tenure with the X family becomes a nearly impossible mission to maintain the mental health of their four-year-old, her own integrity and, most importantly, her sense of humor. Over nine tense months, Mrs. X and Nanny perform the age-old dance of decorum and power as they test the limits of modern-day servitude.
What kind of a nanny wears a motorcycle jacket, mirrored sunglasses, and a straw hat with flowers on top? When ten-year-old Ali and eight-year-old Jake find out that an odd woman who calls herself Nanny X is going to care for them, they're worried. They see her speak into a diaper. Even weirder, the diaper actually seems to be answering her. Everything begins to make sense when the kids discover Nanny X's secret identity. It turns out that Ali, Jake, and their toddler sister are in for a wild ride as they help Nanny X with a mysterious mission.
Bestselling author Mindy Starns Clark and coauthor Leslie Gould offer readers The Amish Nanny, Book 2 in the Women of Lancaster County series, which tells the stories of young Plain women as they explore their roots, connect with family, and discover true love. Amish-raised Ada Rupp knows it’s time to make a commitment to the faith and join the church, especially if she wants a future with the handsome Amish widower Will Gundy. But when she has the chance to travel to Switzerland as the caregiver of a young child, she leaps at the opportunity. Anxious to learn more about her forebears, Ada enlists the help of a young Mennonite scholar named Daniel, but even as she develops feelings for him, she cannot get Will from her mind—or her heart. At a crossroads, Ada must decide what she is willing to give up from the past in order to embrace her future.
New and completely updated edition Hilarious and addictive, this chronicle of a small-town girl’s stint as a celebrity nanny reveals what really happens in the diaper trenches of Hollywood. When Oregon native Suzanne Hansen becomes a live-in nanny to the children of Hollywood über-agent Michael Ovitz, she thinks she’s found the job of her dreams. But Hansen’s behind-the-scenes access soon gets her much more than she bargained for: working twenty-four hours a day, juggling the shifting demands of the Hollywood elite, and struggling to comprehend wealth unimaginable to most Americans, not to mention dealing with the expected tantrums and the unexpected tense–and intense–atmosphere in the house where she lives with her employers. When the thankless drudgery takes its toll and Hansen finally quits, her boss threatens to blackball her from ever nannying in Hollywood again. Discouraged but determined, Hansen manages to land gigs with Debra Winger and then Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman. Attentive, welcoming parents with a relaxed attitude toward celebrity–looks like Hansen’s fallen into a real-life happy ending. But the round-the-clock workdays continue, rubbing some of the glitter off L.A. living, and Hansen’s not sure how much longer she can pretend to be Mary Poppins. Even bosses who treat her like family can’t help as she struggles to find meaning in her work while living in a town that seems to lack respect for nannies and everyone else who comes in the employee’s entrance–but without whom many showbiz households would grind to a halt. Peppering her own journey with true stories and high drama experienced by other nannies to the stars, Hansen offers an intriguing, entertaining mix of tales from the cribs of the rich and famous. You’ll Never Nanny in This Town Again is a treat for everyone who is fascinated by the skewed priorities of Tinseltown, for anyone who has wondered how high-wattage supermoms do it all, and for readers who love peeking behind the curtains of celebrity, all of whom will devour this unparalleled–and unabashedly true–account of one girl’s tour of duty as Hollywood’s hired help.
First published in 1972, Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy's The Rise and Fall of the British Nanny became an instant classic of social history - a groundbreaking study of the golden era of an extraordinary and exclusive British institution. Drawing upon extensive paper research and interviews with former nannies and their charges, Gathorne-Hardy offers 'a study of a unique and curious way of bringing up children, which evolved among the upper and upper-middle-classes during the nineteenth century, flourished for approximately eighty years and then, with the Second World War, vanished for ever.' The nanny hereby earns her place in the story of the British Empire; also in the histories of psychology, child-rearing and British ruling class mores. 'Marvellously researched and beautifully written.' W. H. Auden, Observer 'Enough to delight the sternest critic.' Auberon Waugh, Harpers & Queen
Through the use of in-depth qualitative interviews, Modern Day Mary Poppins: The Unintended Consequences of Nanny Work examines the experiences of and relationships between nannies and their employers. Laura Bunyan uncovers the depths of caring labor while exposing the complicated nature of the relationships formed in care work and their impact on work experiences. Modern Day Mary Poppins reveals that the hiring process for nannies, the personal relationships formed between families and nannies, and work experiences are not straightforward or one-dimensional. Bunyan sheds further light on the long-term implications of early gendered work experiences, and the ways they position women to perform precarious labor.
