A college graduate goes to work as a nanny for a rich New York family.
Ensconced in their home, she has to juggle their dysfunction, a new
romance, and the spoiled brat in her charge.
After graduating from Montclair State, New Jersey Girl Annie can't make
up her mind about what to do with her life. After saving a little boy
from being run over in the park, she is quickly employed as a nanny for a
rich Upper East Side couple. Mr X is occupied with his business, Mrs X
loves shopping, and neither really likes to spend time with their little
boy Grayer. Annie quickly learns that she has more than her hands full
taking care of him. Her busy schedule doesn't give her much spare time.
Mrs X fired her last nanny because she was dating and that gives Annie
problems when Harvard Hottie who lives in the same building asks her out
on a date.
The Nanny Diaries is a 2002 novel by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola
Kraus, both of whom are former nannies. The
book satirizes upper class Manhattan
society as seen through the eyes of their children's caregivers.
Writing
The writers were students at New York University's Gallatin School of
Individualized Study when they wrote the book. Both had worked as
nannies for about 30 different wealthy families on the Upper East Side, where the book is set. As a child, Kraus
lived at 1000 Park Avenue, and claims she modeled
some of the characters, particularly Mrs. X, on other building
residents.
Kraus and McLaughlin recently released a sequel called Nanny Returns,
in which Nan and Harvard Hottie are happily married (for the most
part). A drunken Grayer appears twelve years later and causes Nan to be
involved with the Xs all over again, leading to a frenzy of emotions,
including compassion and guilt.
Originally in college when the first book began, Nanny Schuester was
the primary nanny to Grayer X, and eventually began to love him as a
son. Mrs. X fires her after the interaction between Nanny and Grayer,
jealous that her son sees Nanny as a mother over her. The X's force
Nanny to leave without letting her say goodbye to Grayer, something that
haunts her. In a rage, Nanny records herself on the "NannyCam",
accusing the X's of being bad parents and begging them to love their
son. While working for the X's, Nanny meets and falls in love with a boy
who lives in the same building as the X's, someone she nicknamed
"Harvard Hottie", as that is where he went to school. In the sequel, Nanny
Returns twelve years have passed since the conclusion of the first
book. Now married to Harvard Hottie, they move back to New York after
spending six years traveling the globe through his UN program. There, a
sixteen-year-old Grayer turns up on her doorstep, drunk. Still feeling
guilty for how she left when Grayer was four, she decides to help him
anyway she can in order to atone for what she did. Thus, this brings her
back in with the X's, who have not changed in the past twelve years.
However, putting all her focus on helping Grayer puts a strain on her
relationship with Harvard Hottie, who feels like it is not her place to
be Grayer's "nanny" anymore.
Originally living in the same building as the X's, HH runs into Nanny
in the elevator while she is hanging out with Grayer. Nicknamed Harvard
Hottie by Nanny (as he attended Harvard), they begin to gain a rapport,
however their relationship almost crumbles when she runs into him and
his high school friends, who he doesn't stop when they insinuate that
she is only a nanny so she can have affairs with the rich husbands.
However, after much apologizing, they begin a relationship. In Nanny
Returns, Harvard Hottie (his real name was revealed to be Ryan
Hutchinson) is now married to Nanny, and after moving around the world
due to his UN duties, decide to move back to New York. However, their
relationship gets strained because he wants to immediately start a
family while she is hesitant to do so. He also does not support her
getting sucked back in into the drama of the X family, as he knew that
it took a toll on her the first time.
Grayer's mother, Mrs. X is self-centered and not a very good mother.
Leaving all the parenting work up to Nanny, Mrs. X spends most of her
time in seclusion or spending money. However, she doesn't like to spend
money on others, as she poorly compensates Nanny for working overtime
and fires workers whenever she feels like it. Her relationship with her
husband is almost non existent, due to his constant cheating and his
constantly long work hours. However, she begins to grow jealous of Nanny
once Grayer starts seeing Nanny as his mother over her. She then fires
Nanny and prevents her from seeing Grayer one last time. In Nanny
Returns, she is just the same as ever, although she now has another
son (from Mr. X). She becomes severely depressed, due to Mr. X leaving
her for a younger woman. She kept Nanny's video from the "NannyCam" in
case she had to sue Mr. X for custody of their children. However, she
finds out that the reason that her husband had so much money was that he
was a con artist and the police were starting to suspect him. Not
wanting to lose the lifestyle she has (as she will get nothing in the
divorce if he is caught), she decides to turn a blind eye. However,
Grayer tells her that he will financially support her when their father
gets caught only if she acts like a real mother to her other son.
The very much non existent father of Grayer. He is married to Mrs. X
but continuously cheats on her with other women. He similarly works very
long hours at his office and would rather not be a father to Grayer. In
Nanny Returns, it is revealed that he is a con artist, which was
how he was able to get so much money. He tried to convince Grayer that
he wanted to spend quality time with him, but actually wanted to use him
to steal something. He also has left Mrs. X for a younger woman, and
cut off much of the money she was given.
Grayer X
The son of Mr. and Mrs. X. He is four during the events of the first
book. He becomes very close to Nanny and begins to see her as his
mother, as his own would constantly neglect him and his father would
ignore him. Unknown to him, Nanny was fired due to a jealous Mrs. X and
prevented Nanny from saying goodbye to him, something that emotionally
scarred him as he grew up. In Nanny Returns, Grayer is now
sixteen with a seven-year-old younger brother. He shows up on Nanny's
doorstep drunk, after having seen the "NannyCam" video and looking up
her address from his mother's files. He is still hurt by Nanny's
seemingly abrupt disappearance from his life, as she was the one person
who really cared for him. Thus, he does not trust her, however he wants
his brother to succeed, so he enlists Nanny's help. He eventually finds
out why she had left so suddenly, and he forgives her. He decides to
move out of his mother's house and live on his own, as he realizes that
his father and mother never really cared for him. Nanny offers to adopt
both him and his brother, but he turns her down, saying he needs to do
things on his own. He promises to stay in touch, however before he
leaves Nanny gives him a charm that he gave her when he was four,
telling him to always remember their time together and to never forget,
because she never has.
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