Just Like Family - a keyhole view of the lives of nannies

“It wasn’t her thing to snoop,” said Ms. Blaine, of Claudia, a nanny poking around on the father's desk.... In the absence of any direct discussion of the schedule, Ms. Blaine explained, “she did it to figure it out.”

That describes the author, my step-daughter, as well. Intrigued by her own experience as a Fifth Avenue nanny, socializing with the others in Central Park, she wanted to figure it out: what it meant for the nannies who left their own children behind, for the families they joined - sort of- and the children for whom they cared.

The result is "Just Like Family: Inside the Life of Nannies, the Parents They Work for, and the Children They Love”, released this month. You will find an excerpt here.

Featured in today's Times, it is a keyhole view of the lives of three nannies. Tasha will be responding to reader' comments today online.

She will be reading excerpts on Wednesday, June 10 at 6 PM at The Corner Bookstore, 1313 Madison Avenue at 93rd Street.

image: Max Whittaker, NY Times