White House Nanniesby Barbara Kline$23.95 order now Publicity Contact: Download Press Release |
About White House NanniesBarbara Kline is the other Chief of Homeland Security. When Washington D.C. power parents are having a baby, or when their household is spinning out of control, they call Kline, president of the capital's premier nanny agency. Her hilarious, behind-the-scenes memoir, White House Nannies (a Tarcher/Penguin hardcover; May 5, 2005; $23.95), reveals the nation's capital as you've never know before. Kline has been matching high-powered couples with ultra-competent nannies for more than two decades, and her tales run from the poignant to the utterly absurd. Read about the unsung heroines whose special commitment makes their work far more than a job. Nannies see babies take their first steps and hear their first words while Mom and Dad are halfway around the world trying to save it. Meet these wise, wonderful (and occasionally odd) surrogate mothers who keep Washington from spinning off its axis of global power. It's "West Wing" crossed with "Supernanny." Kline ran a successful ice cream parlor on Capitol Hill until a late-night armed robbery convinced her to look for a safer line of work. When she and her husband, working parents with a baby in diapers, were having a hard time finding quality childcare, White House Nannies was born. White House Nannies follows rising television correspondent star Janette Huntington and her driven corporate lawyer husband David Wilder as they search for the perfect nanny for their new baby, Spencer. After some false starts, Kline strikes gold and sends them an English nanny named Emma who saves the Huntington-Wilders from disaster. As their careers surge forward, Janette and David increase their reliance on overworked Emma - and start to question their role as Spencer's absentee parents. Backstairs stories of other career-driven parents abound-including political advisors Mary Matalin and James Carville, and "Hardball" host Chris Matthews and his television anchor wife Kathleen, who hired ideal nannies with Kline's help. On a typical day at her agency, she and her staff are besieged by all sorts of emergencies as they serve as confidantes to both clients and nannies. (One couple is outraged when they realize their nanny from Nepal has no idea how to make cinnamon toast for their child's breakfast!) High-powered matchmaker Kline tries to satisfy frantic couples who can handle international crises but not their own children - as well as members of the Nanny Mafia. Securing the perfect nanny involves the usual mix of D.C. power games and diplomacy. Nannies are bribed with cash bonuses, vacations and luxury S.U.V.s to stay with difficult children. After parents finally do find their ideal nanny, they still can't relax: they have to stay on the alert for nanny-nappers, desperate couples ready to lure away their nanny with a bigger salary and flashier perks. Keenly observant Kline will make you laugh when she blows the whistle on the domestic affairs of the political movers and shakers. White House Nannies takes readers from Washington's downtown halls of power and the White House itself to ornate Georgetown mansions and trendy Adams-Morgan restaurants. Put yourself in a "time-out" and read this book. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: As owner and president of White House Nannies, an agency she founded in 1985, Barbara Kline knows just about all there is to know about the strategic art of "nanny placement." Kline lives in Chevy Chase, MD, with her husband, Richard and Wally the Miniature Schnauzer. Her son is working in Los Angeles in the entertainment business and her daughter is a junior in college and is studying in Madrid this year.
White House Nannies by Barbara Kline
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