RHYS CELEBRATES FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE.

 RHYS BOWEN:  Actually my book came out last Tuesday, on the same day as Julia's new book. But since she hadn't had a book out for five years and mine appear with monotonous frequency I stepped aside and let her have last Tuesday.  As you probably heard we had a fantastic event at the Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, with Jenn as our host. You can still watch it on the Poisoned Pen Facebook Page or on their YouTube channel. When I last checked it has had over 2000 views. Not bad!

SO let me tell you a little about the book. FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE is number 19 in the Royal Spyness series. If you remember Lady Georgie coming down to London in the first book called HER ROYAL SPYNESS she is camping out in the family's London house, trying to survive alone for the first time with no money. She makes some bad mistakes, mixes with the wrong people and survives more than one assassination attempt. 

But she is still here after 19 adventures as a sleuth. What's more she has married and now has a son. Hooray for Georgie!

This book gives us a glimpse into the life of a British aristocrat at the time, in that Georgie now has a baby. She's been enjoying looking after him herself (with the help of one of the maids who does the unpleasant stuff like dirty diapers so she's never exactly slumming it like us). But all the time she knows she really should hire a nanny. It is expected of her class in society. 

In aristocratic famlies the nanny actually raised the child. Not only did she feed and care for him or her but she instilled the correct values to make him a future leader of the Empire or her a mother of future leaders. So she had to be not only a good caregiver but morally sound. 

The only time the parents saw their child was when he or she was brought down into the sitting room at tea time, nicely dressed for the occasion, to interact with the parents whille Nanny hovered in the backround. Remember the episode of Downton Abbey when Lady Violet complains about how demanding it was to be a parent. And Mrs. Crawley says "I bet you only saw the children for an hour when Nanny brought them down" and Violet says "Yes, but it was an hour every day."

We know from The Crown that the queen felt a failure as parent because she was never shown how to hold and love her children. I'm so glad that William and Catherine are really hands on parents. Their kids won't grow up nearly as repressed as Charles. 

It seems so odd to us, doesn't it? And sending boys off to boarding school at seven. But that's always how it was done. I suppose it was rather like Sparta. Those boys had to grow up strong and resilient because they'd be in the army in India or running something in Africa. My own husband went to boarding school at ten, then worked in Nigeria, then Malaysia, Indonesia. And let me tell you, they are not very good at expressing feelings!

Anyway, Georgie knows she needs a nanny, but when one appears on her doorstep Georgie has second thoughts. Nanny Hardbottle is not the warm and fuzzy type. Poor litte James. Will he survive? Will Georgie survive? She can't get rid of her right away for various reasons, but one of them is that someone seems to be bumping off eldest sons of the aristocracy. Will Darcy be next?

If you've already read the book let me know what you think. An please leave a review on Amazon. It does help.

Would you have liked a nanny when raising your kids?