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 back in 2009 as I wanted a place to discuss books and writing - two loves of my life. As someone who has anxiety, these two things give me, and I am sure countless others, a much needed escape.
There is a monthly book club, writing exercises, prompts, reviews, author interviews, competitions and guest posts. I cover many genres and I hope there is something for everyone.
I grew up by the sea in Dorset and currently live in Poole with my husband, Chris and three cats. I love writing and have a BA (Hons) in Creative Writing from Falmouth University. I am writing my first book. If only I could stop pressing delete. Chris has threatened to stop it from working. Haha.
I have always loved creative writing since I was in first school and would very much like to meet my teacher, Miss Sayers, to say thank you for all the encouragement she gave me then.
When not writing, I love reading, cats, Disney, singing (I can't sing but this doesn't stop me,) and falling into a good TV show or film. If I could step into any fictional world, it would be amongst the characters in ABC's Once Upon a Time.
I love reading many genres and discovering new authors.