Review - The Au Pair by Janey Fraser

Lots of fun and wonderfully entertaining. 

When money starts to get tight, Jilly has the idea of setting up an au pair agency after hearing about some of the disastrous experiences that some of the mother's at school were having.  So she does!  What she hadn't thought about, was that the girl's might have ulterior motives for coming to England. 

The book is based around au pair Marie-France, who is searching for her father, who she knows nothing about apart from his very common name and the fact that he had met her mother when she was an au pair as a young girl herself.

Then there's Matthew, whose wife Sally has died, and whose daughter wants him all to herself and does everything in her power to drive away anyone that Matthews has to look after her. 

There's also a whole host of other young ladies, some that don't even like children, some that leave them on their own, and some that don't really know what they are even thinking of trying to be an au pair.  And then there's the mother's who think having an au pair is like having your own slave!

Janey Fraser must be a complete hoot in real life.  She has a terrific sense of humour which shines through in this story.  Because the au pair's were foreign, the way some of the words were pronounced were just hilarious and I'm still laughing about some of them even now!

It's interesting to see how different people live and also what makes people happy. What looks to be one thing might turn out to be another ! The book covers really significant and sensitive topics such as grief, parenthood, infidelity, managing work and children at the same time!  But manages to cover them all in a wonderfully understanding and in most cases humerous way.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  It was a big read at 582 pages but I can honesty say that I enjoyed every single one of them.  Just reading the first page, which was an application later from an au pair made me settle myself down knowing this was going to be a fantastic read.  And it certainly was exactly that!

Janey Fraser is a pen name for Jane Bidder who has been a journalist for over 25 years and contributes regularly to national newspapers and magazines including The Daily Telegraph and Woman. 

This is her second book following The Playgroup, which I shall definitely be looking out for.

She has also published books under the pen name Sophie King.

You can read more about Janey at her website www.janeyfraser.co.uk

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You can buy this book via Amazon UK