The Zig Zag Challenge

Novelist and short story writer Linda Mitchelmore (To Turn Full Circle) has invited me to be part of the zig-zag blogposts. For this, authors need to find the word ‘like’ in one of their books and post a paragraph or two around that word.

So here’s my link in the zig-zag chain. It comes from my novel, The Au Pair, published by Arrow £6.99. It had a four star rating from The Daily Express. Novelist Fay Weldon described it as ‘Sheer bliss’.

EXTRACT FROM THE AU PAIR BY JANEY FRASER. £6.99. ARROW BOOKS

‘I tell you, Jilly – I’ll never have another one again. Never! Antoinette is a nightmare! Absolute nightmare! I specifically asked the agency for a non-smoker but before we’d even got back from the airport, she’d lit up one of those filthy Gauloise things. Then – get this! – it turns out that she’s 18 and not 19 like the agency told me AND the only experience she’s had with children is visiting her 15 year old nephew in Lyon once a year.’

Who’d have an au pair? It was simply asking for trouble, thought Jilly as she listened to her friend Paula pouring it all out. Frankly, she couldn’t imagine anything worse than a live-in stranger. It was hard enough living with your own family.

‘It’s like having another child ,’ raged Paula, marching over to her enormous silver American fridge and grabbing a bottle of Pinot Grigio even though it wasn’t even 11 o’clock. ‘On her first night, she just sat there at dinner without offering to help as though she was a guest!’

‘Perhaps…,’ Jilly started to say. Too late! Paula was steaming on. ‘Then she used up all the hot water for an hour-long shower. As for her English, it’s a mixture of ‘Janet and John’ meets ‘Desperate Housewives’ with a heavy Woody Allen Parisian accent.’