‘Nanny Returns’ Hits Bookshelves For Holiday Season

First Published: December 18, 2009 6:12 PM EST Credit: Atria Books

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Caption ‘Nanny Returns’ Readers first fell in love with “Nanny” in 2002’s runaway New York Times bestseller, “The Nanny Diaries.” Her wry, humorous recounting of her time as a nanny for the insanely wealthy X family—and of the bizarre world that the Xes and their privileged, powerful friends live in—instantly made her a favorite heroine of readers, who bought over two million copies of the book. And in 2007, fans saw Nan’s adventures with her troublesome charge, Grayer, and her burgeoning romance with her elevator crush, Harvard Hottie, come to life on the big screen in the “Nanny Diaries” movie featuring Scarlett Johansson. Now, in “Nanny Returns” (Atria Books, out December 15, 2009) it’s 12 years later, and Nan has just come back from abroad with her husband—H.H., now known just as Ryan. Mrs. X was a scary lady, but now Nan can be one too: she’s 33, confident and successful, speaks three languages, and runs her own business … but when Grayer, now sixteen and more messed-up than ever, makes a drunken late-night visit to her apartment, Nan is sucked right back into the world of power, wealth, and dysfunction of the Upper East Side. Awash with guilt for “abandoning” Grayer after the Xes kicked her out of their life when he was still a little boy, Nan agrees to do a simple favor for her grown-up charge and his smart, sweet little brother, Stilton. But the Xes are in the middle of a brutal, high-profile divorce; Mr. X is consumed by money troubles and his new actress fiancée, and Mrs. X is M.I.A. and possibly faking cancer for sympathy—and soon “one little favor” snowballs into an ever-more-bizarre series of events as Nan fights to make sure that someone is taking care of Grayer and Stilton… and to win back her beloved Grayer’s fractured trust. Meanwhile, the rest of Nan’s life starts nose-diving like the economy. Ryan is working out of the country and practically unreachable, but still putting unexpected pressure on Nan to “start a family” of their own. Their “fixer-upper” house in Harlem is infested with toxic mold and other costly little renovation surprises. And, most of all, Nan’s experiences with the first major client in her consulting business—the Board of the ultra-elite Jarndyce prep school—are turning out to be sickeningly familiar: the Board is just as unreasonable and demanding as the UES parents she used to nanny for. Teachers—and Nan—are the new hired help, picking up where the nannies left off in the war for the well-being of the children of privilege. Just as fresh, biting, and funny as “The Nanny Diaries,” but with the extra heart and wisdom of a few years’ experience, “Nanny Returns” brings both heroine and readers back to the exotic world of the Upper East Side—a community where appearances are everything, friendships can dissolve with the disappearance of a bank account, and children are often the casualties in the war between wealth and family. For more on authors Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus head online at www.emmaandnicola.com.

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