From teachers to house maids to babysitters to au pairs, the child caregiver is an essential literary character as they give depth, warmth, and sometimes fear to the question, “Who, exactly, is watching the children?”Īnd since tending to the children is rarely a caregiver’s only job, and since a menial payment is rarely the only souvenir they leave with, a writer is tasked with crafting a fully human person while also depicting all the burdens and spirits that follow them into the home. And a transaction must take place, one that far too often goes beyond a simple exchange of goods, seldom at market price. They must leave things a bit differently than the family remembers. The house must feel different in their presence, even if part of their role is to go unseen. They must have a very special rapport with children. The literary nanny must be drawn akin to a ghost.
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