Nanny Returns by Nicola Kraus & Emma Mclaughlin

Nanny Returns

Nicola Kraus & Emma Mclaughlin

Simon & Schuster (April 2010)

Review by Laura Parish.

Ten years after the fateful night when Nan was fired, she returns to New York with her husband, HH. Finally settling in to build a permanent home and get her consulting business off the ground, Nan’s plans are derailed by HH’s sudden desire to start a family – and her surpisingly strong resistance to the idea. Matters are further complicated by a late-night, drunken visit from a now fifteen-year-old Grayer, who’s stumbled upon the nanny-cam tape Nan made on her last night in his mother’s employment – and wants some answers. Racked with guilt and struggling to find a way to help Grayer and his seven-year-old brother, Stilton, through their parents’ vicious divorce, Nan finds herself getting sucked into the Upper East Side world of wealth, power and dysfunction all over again.

Having not read ‘The Nanny Diaries’ my knowledge of ‘Nan Hutchinson’s’ adventures with the X’s was confined to the movie. As a result, I wasn’t sure whether the film adaptation would provide me with enough information to read ‘Nanny Returns.’ After reading the first couple of chapters (I admit that at this point I still wasn’t sure) I suddenly realised that I was having major problems with putting this book down. Kraus and McLaughlin weave plot and character connections well and I found myself really rooting for all the characters (even Mrs. X towards the end) whilst hoping Mr. X would finally be brought down to size. I related to Nan’s uncomfortable time at the baby shower and although there were a couple of American cultural references that this English girl didn’t understand at first, that didn’t matter overall. There were a couple of references to the previous book but nothing that stops you from understanding what’s going on. This book, by the end, left me with a real feel good feeling. I’ll be off to read ‘The Nanny Diaries’ now.

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.