The Nanny Diaries

Nanny is a college student in New York who takes a job caring for Grayer X, a four-year-old living on Park Avenue. His family is devoted to status. She expects a paying job and finds a household that runs on image.

Grayer's mother cares about how things look, and she neglects him. His father is rarely home and is unfaithful. Neither parent pays much attention to their son, and Nanny grows genuinely attached to the boy while being pulled further into their world.

The novel is satire, and often comic. It looks at wealth, class and the raising of children among Manhattan's elite, with the absurd and the cruel sitting side by side in the same household.

The authors, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, are former nannies who drew on work for more than thirty Manhattan families. A 2007 film adaptation starred Scarlett Johansson, Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti. The question running through the book is how long Nanny can stay in a job that is hurting the child she loves.