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It's the summer of 2008. For the past decade Nick and Bryony Skinner and their four children have ridden high on the economic boom, but their luck is about to run out. Suddenly, the privileged family finds itself at the center of a financial scandal:
their Central London house is besieged by the press, Nick disappears, and Bryony and the children become virtual prisoners in their own home. And Ali, their trusted nanny, watches it all. As the babysitter, she brings a unique insider-outsider perspective to the family, seeing far more than even the family itself is capable of. But when a reporter with a personal connection to the story comes asking her for the inside scoop, will Ali remain loyal to the family who never saw her as anything other than the help? Or will she tell her side?
Written with Fiona Neill's delicious humor and addictive style, What the Nanny Saw is a keenly observed, often comical chronicle of the urban wealthy elite, of parents who are often too busy to notice what is going on under their own noses, of children left to their own devices, and of a young nanny thrown into a role she doesn't know how to play. It is a morality tale of our time, a tale of betrayal, the corrosive influence of too much money, and why good people sometimes do bad things.
Show moreIt's the summer of 2008. For the past decade Nick and Bryony Skinner and their four children have ridden high on the economic boom, but their luck is about to run out. Suddenly, the privileged family finds itself at the center of a financial scandal:
their Central London house is besieged by the press, Nick disappears, and Bryony and the children become virtual prisoners in their own home. And Ali, their trusted nanny, watches it all. As the babysitter, she brings a unique insider-outsider perspective to the family, seeing far more than even the family itself is capable of. But when a reporter with a personal connection to the story comes asking her for the inside scoop, will Ali remain loyal to the family who never saw her as anything other than the help? Or will she tell her side?
Written with Fiona Neill's delicious humor and addictive style, What the Nanny Saw is a keenly observed, often comical chronicle of the urban wealthy elite, of parents who are often too busy to notice what is going on under their own noses, of children left to their own devices, and of a young nanny thrown into a role she doesn't know how to play. It is a morality tale of our time, a tale of betrayal, the corrosive influence of too much money, and why good people sometimes do bad things.
Show moreFiona Neill is a novelist and a journalist. Her previous novel, Slummy Mummy, based on her hugely popular column in the London Times, was widely acclaimed and went on to become a Sunday Times bestseller that sold in twenty-five countries. Neill lives in North London with her husband and three children.
"[Fiona Neill] mixes delicious high-roller tidbits with
well-rendered characters who illustrate why—and how—the rich are
different."—People
"After an uberwealthy London family gets embroiled in a financial
scandal following the 2008 crash, the trusted babysitter is the one
holding all the secrets. Neill’s engrossing and funny novel lives
up to the titillating title."—Entertainment Weekly
“Readers expecting a salacious, lighthearted romp, as anything with
the word 'nanny' in the title might suggest, will find that Neill
has something more substantive and biting in mind.”—Booklist
"Neill’s engrossing tale makes for an addictive read, and one can
only keep turning the pages to get to the inescapable
conclusion."—Library Journal
"Neill concocts a darkly fascinating portrait of the stupid-rich,
and the morally superior immigrant maids they press into service. .
. . In this fast-paced, dishy morality tale, Neill also delivers a
thoughtful dissection of how greed and hubris helped bring the
banking industry to its knees in 2008."—Publishers Weekly
When Ali considers the debt she's accruing and the ill-advised affair with her married tutor, she decides to discontinue her studies at university. She takes a job as nanny for wealthy, privileged Nick and Bryony Skinner. She must become accustomed to being treated with courtesy and generosity one minute and then being overlooked or forgotten the next. As the 2008-09 financial crisis hits worldwide, Ali witnesses a disintegrating marriage, overeager paparazzi, and the fear and heartbreak of the couple's seven-year-old twins. Funny and absorbing, Neill's (Slummy Mummy) latest title offers an in-depth look at the moral latitude granted to the upper crust, wryly noted along the way by someone from the opposite end of the social spectrum. Despite the Skinners' neuroses and selfishness, a family crisis is still a family crisis, which makes for an absorbing read. Narrator Alison Larkin nails the absurdity of urban London haute. VERDICT Recommended to fans of Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus's The Nanny Diaries or anyone who enjoys family dramas from an outsider's perspective. ["This biting drama is filled with tension and remarkably flawed characters. Neill's engrossing tale makes for an addictive read, and one can only keep turning the pages to get to the inescapable conclusion," read the review of the Riverhead: Penguin Group (USA) hc, LJ 7/12.-Ed.]-Terry Ann Lawler, Phoenix P.L. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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