WHAT
THE NANNY SAW
BY
FIONA NEILL
THE
BLURB:-
Nanny required to
take care of busy professional London family.
When penniless student
Ali Sparrow answers Bryony and Nick Skinner's advertisement her life
changes overnight.
She is capitulated into
the privileged and excessive world of London's financial elite. At
first everything is overwhelming- from twins who speak their own
language to a teenage girl with weight issues, and a son almost Ali's
own age. Then there is Bryony, who has one eye on her dazzling
career and the other on Ali's failings.
When boom turns to bust
and a scandal erupts that suggests something corrupt has been hatched
behind the Skinners' front door, their private life is suddenly
public news. And as Ali becomes indispensable, she realizes she's
witness to things she probably shouldn't see.
But is she principled
enough to keep the family's secrets when the press come prowling for
the inside scoop? Or will she dish the dirt on the family who never
saw her as anything other than part of the scenery?
THE
REALITY:-
It took me a while to
get into this book. Maybe I simply read it at a particularly bad
time- I did not need to hear about the privileged lives of upper
middle class professional people when I myself am struggling (my
novel is far better than this- why I have not yet got an agent or
publisher, I do not know). The way I see it, it's so much easier to
'get on' when you have the background, old school tie and contacts to
move seamlessly forward into your chosen career. If you are working
class, like me, you very often don't, and the big bad world can seem
confusing and overwhelming. Mind you, one thing this class of people
seem to have is an arrogance; a kind of expectation that getting a
good job is a God-given right. I must say, I also share in that
arrogance- I think that a person who has studied at further education
level for four years or more, and who has applied themselves to
getting a degree, or equivalent, is entitled to a good job. Don't
get me wrong, I don't mean wandering in at director level on £60,000
a year; just that they should be fast tracked and not given the work
of a sixteen or eighteen year old school leaver to do, and earn a
better salary than said people, commensurate with their
qualifications. To me, qualifications DO matter- I find the people
who say that they don't tend not to have any.
Rant over, now back to
the book. The main characters of Ali and Bryony did not particularly
enthrall me and it's a sad indication that the dog, Leicester, was
probably one of the more interesting characters, what with his dirty
protests and his penchant for dumping in peoples' shoes (yes, the
lavatorial always makes me laugh!) The twin boys and Izzy, the
daughter with the eating disorder, were also good characters, but the
person who made the best copy was Foy, the old boy who started and
finished this novel. The book wasn't totally boring and there were
some fun scenes that remind you that these people are only human,
such as where Nick almost gets caught masturbating over computer porn
by Ali and where Sophia throws beetroot soup over her husband and
calls him a cunt (see, I told you I like the base!) The lives
and stories of the other foreign nannies and housekeepers who work
for these people were nicely documented and poignant.
It was interesting that
the address of the house where Ali works was noted as being 94
Holland Park Crescent on page 6 and then 97 Holland Park Crescent on
page 506. Continuity differences like these grate on my fucking
nerves! Mistakes do happen- every time I re-read my novel I find a
small discrepancy, but my excuse is that I haven't (yet) had the joy
of having a professional editor work on my book, and I suppose it is
320,000 words long so you are going to find mistakes. But What The Nanny Saw is properly published and editorial teams need to sort things like
this out.
I enjoyed learning
about the workings of the financial world, via Nick's dealings, and
think his downfall and subsequent investigation could have been
expanded upon as it would have made interesting reading. The ending
was a finishing point, as such, but a bit nondescript- it was so
forgettable that I read it before going to bed but had totally
forgotten it by the morning and had to re-read it. I can't even
remember whether Ali did dish the dirt on her former employer, or
not. I suppose you'd call this book a nice summer beach read, and I
would give another book by this author a go, but with extreme
trepidation. Unlike some, I'm all for giving people a chance or two.
