As the author moves on with her dreams of a career in nursing on hold, the scene shifts from London’s East End across the river to the leafy suburbs of south-east London, then, onwards and upwards to the Mecca of the medical profession in the golden triangle that was Harley St, Wimpole St and Devonshire Place.
Working as a nanny cum housekeeper for two ambitious doctors and living en famille she takes on the responsibility of their six anarchic, unruly, bickering, lovable children.
She charts their family life through the ups and downs of thirteen eventful years with humour and perception as the children protest her authority and find ingenious ways of circumventing her boundaries. Disappearing, as they were wont to do at the first sign of battle, one is left to wonder wryly why their parents had six children in the first place, since their parenting seemed peripheral to their busy professional lives. Their upward mobility was not without its tribulations or effects on family life.
Told with humour and perspicuity this is a book all grown up naughty children will enjoy. Chapters with headings like ‘What part of NO don’t you understand’ or ‘I don’t care who started it’ are sure to bring back memories for many, as will sibling rivalry and surviving accidents, poisonings and explosions.
Working as a nanny cum housekeeper for two ambitious doctors and living en famille she takes on the responsibility of their six anarchic, unruly, bickering, lovable children.
She charts their family life through the ups and downs of thirteen eventful years with humour and perception as the children protest her authority and find ingenious ways of circumventing her boundaries. Disappearing, as they were wont to do at the first sign of battle, one is left to wonder wryly why their parents had six children in the first place, since their parenting seemed peripheral to their busy professional lives. Their upward mobility was not without its tribulations or effects on family life.
Told with humour and perspicuity this is a book all grown up naughty children will enjoy. Chapters with headings like ‘What part of NO don’t you understand’ or ‘I don’t care who started it’ are sure to bring back memories for many, as will sibling rivalry and surviving accidents, poisonings and explosions.
