The Nanny Diaries
A Novel
Penguin
Paperback
: 07 Mar 2002
£8.99
Synopsis
The Nanny Diaries’ heroine is aptly named Nan, and she works for Mr. and Mrs. X., caring for their only child Grayer. Grayer is the average four year-old. His day includes but is not limited to music, swimming, karate, piano and French lessons, in addition to school, play-dates and naptime. Mrs. X’s calendar is equally full, thrusting Nan into the full-time job of managing not one, but two lives. The Nanny Diaries follows Nan’s outrageous, shocking and hilariously funny life as she tries to work, study and chase men in a post-nuclear family world.A poignant satire, The Nanny Diaries wickedly captures the lives of the real Manhattan elite. A contemporary Mary Poppins story with attitude.
* The film rights to The Nanny Diaries have been sold to Miramax for a six figure sum.
* Julia Roberts has been signed to read for the audio book.
Reviews
Customer Review: 11 November 2002
Reviewer: chip
"I loved it! Absolutely fabulous! Just when I needed a break from my exams and hw, it felt like a delicious pill. And my heart went for Grover all the time. I think I would never be able to leave him if I was Nan. Wonderful, congrats! :)"
» Submit a reviewInterview
Seen Mary Poppins a hundred times? Fancy yourself as the classic 'governess'? You may change your mind after reading The Nanny Diaries! We get some insider information on the real world of nannying from the authors, plus, find out their top 10 rules of nannying here.
Q: How did you two meet?
Nicola & Emma: We became friends while taking a gender-in-performance class our senior year at NYU. We soon realized that we had actually both interviewed for the same job and ended up passing a four-year-old back and forth like a baton.
Q: Did you find it exceptionally difficult or easy to write as a team?
N& E: We loved it! Why would anyone write by themselves? Who would you talk to at four in the morning? Who would tell you how to spell “egregious”? Who would bring the coffee? No fun at all.
Q: Should nannying be added as an Olympic sport? If so, how would the judges score the event?
N&E: Yes, right along with prostitution—both should be judged on grace, form and believability.
Q: If there is one thing anyone should be told before becoming a nanny, what is it?
N&E: It will never be just taking care of a child. You are entering a complex family dynamic and expected to navigate everybody’s behind-closed-doors neuroses, without making a ripple.
Q: What do you miss most and least about being nannies now that you’ve found your calling as a writing team?
N&E: Well, it’s been a good number of years since we tied our last small shoe in Central Park, but we’d both have to say what we miss most is the pleasure of being able to solve a little person’s problems so easily (i.e. making the world a better place because we were able to find blankie). The snuggles. And just spending a half-hour on a sunny afternoon being enraptured by a cement mixer on Lexington.
What we miss least? Everything else.
Q: What are the chances that either one of you will ever employ a nanny in the future?
N&E: If we have children, we’ll have childcare. We’re not so naïve to deny that being an active, participating member in the professional world necessitates some form of support on the home front.
It’s unfortunate that there remains a stigma in this country around daycare and the hiring of childcare. Until working women are no longer made to feel ashamed about having to share the mothering responsibilities with a paid employee, the relationship will continue to be approached as a familial one.
We suggest that if the relationship between the mother and the nanny is professionalized, and much is involved in such a vision, including legal regulation—then a nanny can be enabled to love the child—which is really the crucial cornerstone of the job.
Given that the world has a long way to go on this front, we can only hope that any woman that either of us might someday entrust with the care of our children will receive from us the professional respect she deserves.
Q: What’s next for Emma and Nicola?
N&E: A sequel, a world tour, a cookbook and a clothing line. Oooh, and a lipstick.
More
The Top 10 Rules of Nannying as defined by Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin10. You’re only a nanny - and not a babysitter - if your annual salary is commensurate with your employer’s facial budget.
9. Dress down. Dress wayyyyyy down. The Weather Channel is your best friend. Always plan for the worst-case scenario - because that’s where you’ll be. To nanny is to be stuck on an endless outward bound in the playground.
8. Lie. Lie. Lie. When asked how long you’re willing to commit to the job, say, ‘I plan to work here forever. I’ll raise my own kids here and they can watch your grand kids. That’s my plan. It’ll be great!’
7. Validate. Validate. Validate - i.e. ‘That new Birken bag was so worth the wait.’ ‘The new drapes were so worth all you put up with.’ ‘Oh, no, you were right, there was absolutely no need for you to come to the school play.’
6. Try to see your employer as a small woodland creature, a la Bambi, wandering through the apartment and treat her accordingly. Should you find her aimlessly circling the study, lovingly shepherd her back to her room.
5. Even if you are a lesbian, especially if you are a lesbian, you MUST have a boyfriend. He is the same religion as your employer and goes to a good, conservative school out of state. You will be marrying him as soon as he graduates and moving into their guestroom, because once again, you have signed on for life. And you’re fine with that. You and your imaginary boyfriend.
4. Avoid being left alone with the husband at all costs. Not because he’ll hit on you, but because he won’t know who you are and may wonder if he married you when he wasn’t looking.
3. No matter what they tempt you with, DO NOT GO ON ‘VACATION’ WITH THEM! Put the Arc de Triomphe over it, put the Caribbean under it, stick a palm tree in it - it’s still twenty-four/seven slave labor - no breaks, no control and no boundaries.
2. Get it through your head - ten dollars an hour DOES buy your privacy. Read: get used to peeing with an audience.
1. Love the kid. Because you’re going to hate everyone else.
Product details
Format :
Paperback
ISBN: 9780141008929
Size : 129 x 198mm
Pages : 320
Published : 07 Mar 2002
Publisher : Penguin
Other formats for The Nanny Diaries:
» ePub eBook: eBook : £8.99
The Nanny Diaries
A Novel
£8.99
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