The Nanny Returns

Do you remember the book The Nanny Diaries which was a sensation in 2002? It was inspired by the hairy experiences of former nannies, Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin and details their adventures working for the well heeled society of New York. The Nanny Diaries was the story of Nan, a twenty something lady who takes on the job looking after the four year old Grayer in order to pay her way through college. However she finds herself at the beck and call of Grayer's mother, the formidable Mrs X who proceeds to make her life a living hell. The Nanny Diaries was made into a film in 2007, starring Scarlett Johnasson, Laura Linney and Alicia Keyes but failed to set the world alight.  It was more or less a flop. Well eight years later we have a sequel to the book which is called, The Nanny Returns. It is set 12 years after Nan was sent packing from the household and a lot has changed. She is now happily married and about to set up her own business and everything is going swimmingly till she gets a visit from Grayer who is now a troubled teenager. He wants to know why she left so suddenly and with his parents embroiled in a bitter divorce, Nan finds herself wanting to protect Grayer and his little brother, Stilton from the animosity. Pretty soon she is sucked into the perils of Upper East negativity but will she survive it this time?

The Nanny Returns is out on 1st April and available to buy from amazon.

Expose Lit

Expose Lit are novels which gives us an insight into an industry which is based on the author's experience. 

Ondo Lady, 2009

We have Chick Lit, Lad Lit and Chick Noir but over the years we have witnessed the growth of Expose Lit. It is rather akin to roman a clef which is a depiction of real life experiences without revealing the sources, however Expose Lit has a variety of characteristics. It features a small town rookie who moves to the big city in order to persue their dreams, lands an entry level position in sexy glam industry and has a tyranic larger then live boss who is extremely demanding as well as back stabbing colleague. The dilenma of the story features whether or not the protagonist will go over to the dark side in order to get what they want. It was the release of The Nanny Diaries in 2002 that set the trend in the genre with the book being a huge success on both sides of the pond. Then a year later another book would send Expose Lit exploding into the mainstream media. The Devil Wears Prada caught the imagination of readers in the literary world in the story about a young upstart who lands a role as as assistant for a demanding editor. Since then everyone has become intruiged about the goings on in glam industries such as book publishing, PR, magazines, music, film and TV. Every so keen to meet demand, the book publishers have been releasing titles after titles to satisfy readers. A lot of these books have gone on to become successful films ie The Nanny Diaries, The Devil Wears Prada and The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing (which was renamed Surburban Girl.) The others remain great pieces of fiction.

Here are my top Expose Lit books. 

Spin by Robert Rave
Robert Rave worked in PR as an assistant for Lizzie Grubman. This book is a fantastic and riveting read with great writers and characters. There are rumours that Spin is to be made into a movie with Zac Efron playing the lead. 

Pop Tart by Kira Coplin and Julianne Kaye
This is the tale of Jackie O'Reilly, a make up artist who befriends teen pop star, Brooke Parker. Kira Coplin has written for US Weekly and now works as filmmaker in LA and Julianne Kaye is a very successful make up artists who has worked for many artists such as Britney Spears; so they really know what they are talking about. Great book and a fantastic insight into the music machine. 

Schooled by Anisha Lakhani
This book is basically the real Gossip Girl and exposes the deception and corruption that goes on in posh private schools in New York. Anna Taggart starts a new job as a teacher at Langdon Hall with all the best intentions of nurturing her students but finds herself sliding down the slippery pole of backhanders and designer gifts. A fantastic read.

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
Not read this book but 10 out of 10 for pioneering the whole expose lit thing. Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Krause both worked as nannies in New York so this book was really their memoirs. The Nanny Diaries was released in 2002 and gained No 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. A film was released in 2007 staring Scarlett Johanason but sadly it was a flop. 

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger 

The ultimate Expose Lit which tells the story of Andrea Sachs, a midwestern girl who moves to the Big Apple in order to become a journalist for the New Yorker. Strangely enough she finds herself at the biggest magazine on earth and working for a boss with the biggest ego. Lauren Weisberger was an assistant at Vogue for Anna Wintour. The book was published in 2003 and was adapted into hugely successful film in 2006. My verdict is great film but shame about the book. The characters here are lacklustre and the narrative really drags. 

Twin of Tribeca by Rachel Pine

Just started reading this and so far so good. Karen Jacobs is a junior publicist at Glorious Pictures where she is treated like crap. The company is owned by the Waxman Brothers who run the company with an iron fist. Rachel Pine worked as a publicist at Miramax which is owned by the Weinstein brothers so knows all about the Hollywood machine. 

Because She Can by Bridie Clark
Clare Truman is offered a job as an editor with Vivian Grant, one of the most formidable women in publishing. Sadly her dream job turns into a nightmare when her boss shows her true colours and begins showering her staff with relentless workload and mental and verbal abuse. Bridie Clark has worked in the book publishing industry for years and under hot shot publishing maverick, Judith Regan who this book is rumoured to be based on. Because She Can is a blatant attempt to cash in on the success of The Devil Wears Prada but it fails miserably. The story is weak and the characters are super bland.

So with a sequel to The Nanny Diaries aka The Nanny Returns, out in December it looks like the genre of Expose Lit is set to run and run.

Schooled by Anisha Lakhani

A while back I reported that a real life version of Gossip Girl would be hitting the big screen and that it was based on a book called Schooled which delved into the world of the elite private schools in Manhattan. The book is written by Anisha Lakhani, I also promised you a review and well here it is. Schooled is based on Anisha's own experience as a teacher at a snooty school in New York. Her alma mater, Anna Taggert enters the system all bright eyed and bushy tailed planning to enrich her students' lives with the prose of Shakespeare. Unfortunately, instead of being greeted with gratitude she is faced with hostility from her students, parents and fellow tutors. The unwritten rule at Langdon Hall; the school that Anna teaches is that there is no level playing field and grades are dependent on a student's surname and postcode as opposed to their efforts. After all this is a place where students have designer clothes, handbags, iPods and Blackberrys and as much cash as they desire. Meanwhile Anna has to struggle to meet her rent payments on her tiny apartment in the wrong end of Manhattan. So it is no wonder that she jumps at a gig to privately tutor one of students after all she needs the cash right? Her delight soon turns to horror when she realises that 'tutoring' is just a coy term for blatant cheating and that her role really is to do the work of the privileged student to make sure that they graduate and go on to an Ivy League college. Anna is initially disgusted by the immoral life that she has moved into but the lure of the money is too irresistible. Pretty soon she has clocked up several more clients and is taking home more money in a week than she does on a monthly basis in her full time job. I think it is safe to say that Anna gets totally sucked into her new lifestyle which now consists of Lanvin suits, Sass and Bide jeans, Chanel clutches to go with her all new $1,000 haircut. She also trades her shabby apartment to a sleeker one in Madison Avenue -Anna is going up in the world. However, as we know all good things come to an end and while she is raking in the cash it is at the expense of her social life and morality. Suddenly she has to choose on which route to stay on.


I came across Anisha Lakhani in an article in Gawker and was initially drawn to the obvious comparisons to Gossip Girl. A few chapters in I realised that there was more to this book than the lavish lifestyles of the rich Manhattanites. What Schooled brings to us is a tale of ideals and how easy it can be for those ideals to be corrupted. Not only does Anisha's tale explores the underworld of an unfair private education system where money seems to buy anything it also concentrates on the kids who have been failed by their thoughtless parents. Schooled is a compelling read due to Anisha's narrative which is very accessible and I would say that her constant dropping of designer names and her student's opulent lifestyle is very Gossip Girl (esque). No surprise to hear that it was the Gossip Girl books that inspired her to write Schooled and get the story from the other side out. We all love a good kiss and tell story and this is one in it's finest form. Move along The Devil Wears Prada and The Nanny Diaries, there is a new kid on the block called Schooled who is after your crown.

The Jane Austen Book Club

I never read this book, this along with The Nanny Diaries must be one of the popular chick lit that I did not manage to get through. The idea of being part of a book club has always fascinated me; how do you decide who joins, what topics do you discuss, do you just talk about the book only and nothing else and do you socialise with the members outside of the book club or is that a complete no no. The Jane Austen Book Club is the tale of six members who meet up to discuss and debate books by the iconic author. Each member chooses a title that they will prepare a presentation on and coincidentally the book that the member selects happens to bear huge similarity to their own life. Founding member, Bernadette (Kathy Baker) is a hopeless romantic who despite six failed marriages has not given up on the idea of love. Her close friend, Jocelyn (Maria Bello formerly of ER) is a free spirit and independent woman who lives life to the full and takes pleasure out of match making even though her own personal life is void. Sylvia (Amy Brenneman from Judging Amy) is Jocelyn's best friend and is bought into the club after her husband of 25 years leaves her for another woman. Then there is her daughter, Allegra (Maggie Grace formerly of Lost) who only joins the club to support her mother but finds herself engrossed by the themes in Austen's books. Prudie (Emily Blunt from Devil Wears Prada) is a French teacher who has never been to France in a very unhappy marriage and uses the book club to fuel her loneliness and frustration. Grigg (Hugh Dancy) is a cute geek who takes a fancy to Jocelyn and joins the club to get to know her better but she is hellbent on setting him up with Sylvia.

This film is really enjoyable and exemplifies chick film at it's best. These characters are all very well developed and easy to relate to. While Bernadette is the key that holds the group together, it is Maria Bello's Jocelyn who is the main character in the film and the former ER star, simply sizzles in each scene. Amy Brenneman is great as the abandoned wife but she is way too young to play Maggie Grace's mother. Talking of Maggie Grace, the depiction of her character as a fun, gorgeous girl about town who happens to be a lesbian as opposed to the normal Hollywood mantra of a lesbian who has these qualities is welcomed with open arms. It is so great to see a gay character is a major film who just is what she or he is without a big hoo hah being made out of it. Robin Swicord takes the credit here for the wonderful work but then judging by her previous films it is no surprise that she came up with the goods. She is better known as a screenwriter where she penned Memoirs of a Geisha, Little Women, Matilda, The Perez Family and Practical Magic. The Jane Austen Book Clubs is a great and fun film that everyone should go out and see whether you are into Jane Austen or not.

The Jane Austen Book Club is released on Friday 16th November.