I found I enjoyed this book very much, even if a bit slow in parts. It tells the story of different characters centred around the death of a child that one of the US Au Pairs is looking after in France. Set after the terrorist attacks, there is good insight into how people must have felt when venturing out again. It is interesting to see how Au Pairs are treated by different families and we also read about the French teacher who teaches them basic French to do their job. She has her own trials and tribulations.
Overall I enjoyed it.

Unfortunately struggled with this and DNF. Thank you for the opportunity to read. I just couldn’t get into the story.

Not a book that would normally appeal to me but I became absobed by it and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The lives if 6 women initially seperate but become entwined together.
I read it really quickly. Highly recommeded.

Thank you for net galley and the publisher for this advance arc . This is an easy to read, beautiful story with vivid imagery and a well constructed plot and I would highly recommend .

This opens like a thriller in that we know something terrible has happened, but in reality it’s a slow burn reveal of relationships between those who look after children in a Parisian suburb. I really enjoyed it - the characters are nicely drawn, the relationships really interesting and the slow reveal of how the tragedy came to pass is well done.

This book starts with the arrest of an au pair after the death of one of the children she was looking after. I thought it would have a bit of a suspense/who done it theme but that was not the case.

It looked back at the run up to his death and various, mostly female, characters and it felt very character focused.

Sadly for me I didn’t feel to connected to any of the characters and at times it went on for several pages but not much happened.

I think this would suit fans of character driven type books.

Thank you to #NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I usually enjoy books with a French setting; The caretakers is an exception. I’ve tried to get into this story a few times since I downloaded and I’ve struggled to engage with either the characters or plot. The premise sounds intriguing. The delivery is extraordinarily dull with flat characters and very little sense of time and place. Exceptionally, I’ve been unable to finish this book and I’ve given up.

My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily.
I was attracted to this book by the subject matter - the death of a child and the arrest of the au pair - in the setting of Paris. It took me a long time to read the first 10% as it seemed to be filled with selfish female characters who care little for each other, their families or the children in their care. There seemed to be no commitment to their role (although I understand this can be driven by the families' treatment of the person who has arrived to provide childcare in exchange for board and lodging whilst learning the culture and language of their chosen 'home') or friendships among the group. I disliked the content and characters so much I stopped reading at 10%.

I started this book with enthusiasm and indeed I did enjoy the beginning but then my interest waned.
I found that I did not really relate to the characters and found it quite a slow burn. Despite the good descriptive writing I found myself skimming pages.

I didn’t like this book very much so I gave up very quickly. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

I started this book with high hopes as the first few chapters had me gripped. Unfortunately the longer the book went on the more my interest waned and I found myself skim reading just to get to the end. The bit i enjoyed the most about the book was the insight into how French culture differs from English/American cultures and how difficult it appeared to be accepted into the French culture. I don't think I found any of the characters particularly likable which is why I might have struggled a bit to connect to this book.

A disturbing story of a group of au pairs (caretakers) charged with caring for French children in a Paris suburb. The parents for various reasons prefer to pay a young adult to take the responsibility for childcare whilst on many occasions making her life unhappy and for some of the young girls, unbearable. A series of chapters relay the back story of the au pairs reasons for leaving the stability and family (or lack of it) in their home country , whilst allowing the reader insight into the cruelty and dysfunctional lives of the families they now work for. The early chapters briefly outline the fatal accident of a young child with an ongoing investigation of the circumstances. The excellent premise of the story was to some extent let down by a series of disjointed chapters, too many characters with meandering disjointed history that failed to grab the attention , and a lack of direction in delivery of any conclusion. Disappointed in that a good storyline became diluted in the telling, taking too long to hold attention of the reader intent on wanting answers to the mystery of the dead child. Many thanks to author publisher and NetGalley for ARC.

Very much a character driven book. The drama is revealed at the start so don’t look for lots of tension because there is none. The depth of information of so many characters didn’t always add much and although I loved reading the book I did find quite a lot of stereotypes. The style read like a book that had been translated into English and I was hoping the author was French so the shallow French women in the book wouldn’t be as embarrassing as they seemed.

Set in Paris and its affluent suburbs with a back drop of the terrorist attacks of 2015 is an unusual mystery involving Au Pairs mainly from USA. The book starts with a fatal accident at the Chauvet residence and the storyline is then pulled together through various threads. We get to know Au Pairs from various households and discover some of their secrets and failings as well as those of their hosts before the truth behind the accident is discovered.
Very well written on a slow burn I found the premise quite absorbing. I did find the ending a little abrupt but maybe the author is leaving room to continue.

A story set in the world of au pairs, in the lavish lifestyles of rich families in the Paris suburbs. Centring on a tragedy and the events leading up to and the cause, of the targedy. The strength of the book is/are the characters and how their lives intertwine with one another. These characters are given their own sub-story in the book, within their household so you get to know them well and their thoughts, struggles and secrets within that house. These families, and thus their stories, are connected/intertwined with one another, by the group of au pairs that work for them.

I enjoyed reading this book more than I thought I would. I was drawn in to the world of several strong characters in the story. I thought how the stories were knitted together through the au-pairs working for the families, worked well to enhance the flow of the story. I felt that there was a lot going on and it was sometimes confusing to keep up with everything and everyone, but the book was beautifully written and describes in detail and informs the reader well, of the life of au pairs, their role and expected/assumed responsibilities within the Parisian families.

The Caretakers is an engaging book set in the world of au pairs in Paris suburbs. It sets the story in the recent months after a major terrorist attack when the world has been visibly shaken.

The caretakers of the book’s title refers to the au pairs hired by rich families to look after their children. The narrative is quite damning of the parents and implies that they don’t take care of their children.

The story centres on the tragic death of one of those children and the causes that lead up to it. It tells the tales of a number of intertwined lives, with narrators swapping in and out. All of them are living lives at odds with the image they are outwardly projecting.

Every now and again I come across a book that leaves me a little unsure. The Caretakers is one such book. It is a mystery of sorts, but the mystery is more a way to a means. By this, I mean that the mystery gave the author a chance to create storylines around her characters so that the focus was more on the characters than the mystery.

The story focus on Au {[airs who live and work in France, they are The Caretakers. The caretakers of the children, the house and the secrets. The author takes various characters and gives each of them a story, about the family they work for, where they have come from and also their thoughts and opinions. This means there is a lot of back and forth between characters and also timelines. I did find this easy enough to follow and keep up with who was who.

While there are several sub-stories in this book they do eventually intertwine, some more than others. The au-pairs of foreigners to France and so they are alone, it is natural that they navigate towards one another and this is done via a French Speaking school for au-pairs and also when they meet up socially. They form tentative bonds and some friendships are more of a way of feeling not so alone in a foreign country.

The time of the story when the girls are working is around the time of the 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo, the author uses this to add a touch of friction, and unease and it gives a chance for opinions to surface from differing perpsectives. It was a way of discovering more about living in France and being French, very interesting.

THis is very much a character-driven story, at times I did actually forget that there was a mystery that started my journey with this book. This is a book where I kind of want to say not huge amounts happened, but actually, there was. It has a subtle dramatic feel and for me, I got a sense of nervousness, trepidation at living in a new country, trying to start a new chapter in life, or just trying to prove people wrong. There are several different voices in this book and each one brings their own story, thoughts, personality, history, hopes for the future or just to escape something from their past.

This is a slow burner, but it was also very captivating. There was something about this book that didn't allow me to put it to one side. As I mentioned earlier, it is a subtle book because it isn't always immediately obvious where the author is going as she flits from character and time.

This was a really interesting read, it is one for those who like character-driven novels, contemporary and literary fiction. I would happily recommend this one as it did keep me hooked.

I'm getting tired of books that start by describing the aftermath of a horrific crime and then slowly unfolding the events of the weeks before it. I get why so many writers do it but I'm certain that there are other ways to create drama. Especially as the technique only drags out the inevitable. It means that, when you figure out the truth early on, it's a painstakingly slow reading experience with very little payoff.

<em>The Caretakers </em>opens with the death of a young boy and the arrest of his American au pair. The event causes quite a stir in the affluent suburban community of Maisons-Larue. It's a community of families who hire foreigners to watch their children as they enjoy lavish lifestyles. The kind of housewives who love gossip. Needless to say, news of the event quickly spreads.

Through the stories of six women, we learn what happened in the lead up to the tragic moment. We see the weeks prior from the viewpoint of women personally connected with the family of the accused. There's Geraldine, the teacher schooling the au pairs in speaking French; Lou and Holly, two au pairs; Charlotte, the boy's mother; Nathalie, her sulky teenage daughter, and Alena, the accused. What can we discover about these women and their involvement in proceedings?

I had high hopes for this book but was a little disappointed. It's a concept that we've seen a thousand times before and one that has been executed better. We do learn a lot about these women but I didn't really care about them. I couldn't escape the feeling that this was all just dragging out the inevitable reveal. Plus, these are all stereotypical characters that appear in countless other books. The troubled youth who escapes her family by moving to another country. The rich girl pretending to be poor. The bored housewife who hates her husband. None of these characters are interesting enough to warrant the time we spend getting to know them.

Then there's the fact that the story isn't even that interesting. Yes, the writer opens with the death of a child which many will deem dark and daring. As the story goes on, it becomes pretty obvious what's going on and who is responsible. Unfortunately, when you do figure it out, you'll still have over half the book to go. Meaning it's quite a slog to get to the end. Yes, the author throws a few references to the terrorist attacks that took place in Paris and Brussels but it doesn't really go anywhere. It's basically just included to give everyone a 'life is fleeting ' revelation. It feels shoehorned in.

This is an ambitious book and I do see what she was trying to achieve. However, there's just too much going down. You're slowly wading through so much detail but it's adding very little to the story. I normally love a character study but this was some basic exploration. Everything is surface level and all very clichéd. Just because you write a lot, it doesn't mean there's any depth there. It's a shame because this could have been so good. <em>The Caretakers</em> is trying to be more like <em>Nothing Can Hurt You</em> but it's just kind of dull and forgettable.

I felt this book was a real anomaly. The writing is beautifully crafted and each of the six women characters, flawed though they all are, developed empathetically.

The problems I had (in my view) were several: the chapters were too long and indistinct, sometimes rambling; there were too many characters entering the story (& for example with each au-pair comes the children they look after, the parents, the neighbours, their and sometimes the backgrounds of these too; the ending didn’t resolve my queries and I felt, cut off the story.

For some people, I feel sure this immersive and character driven story will be ideal. It clearly depicts what I imagine a life to be like for American au-pairs in Paris, facing difficulties with language, culture, expectations, living in someone else’s home.

Each character is carrying issues from their past and are not sure how these have shaped who they are now, who they want to be and the difficulties they are facing.

A clever plot, showing the ‘mystery’ at the start from many angles and build ups. However, I felt this mystery was overwhelmed by the depths of the characters and their stories.

Sadly for me overall a 3🌟read as I spent too long ‘outside’ the plot, trying to remember who was who and connecting the threads.

I absolutely adored this book, it has answered so many questions! I always wondered why, myself, a mum of three unruly children , felt so shabby and harassed on a French beach in the 1990’s. The French women looked elegant, slim and tanned, they relaxed and didn’t seem to pay their children any attention, I was like a mad woman, trying to keep all my children in my vision, it was hard work!
Now the secret is out, the au pair took the strain, and the mothers had no guilt in handing over their children to young students, who had a desire to travel the continent cheaply, and learn languages, and they would take jobs looking after children, some had a rudimentary knowledge of First Aid, and cooking for infants, others learnt on the job.
This book starts with the death of a child, and the subsequent arrest of an au pair. We then learn via friends of the girl , the circumstances that lead up to this shocking event, all is not black and white. It is more a tragic, cautionary tale, than a murder mystery, but the setting of France, Paris and the way of life there, brought back such happy memories for me, it was a joy to read.
I teach childcare students, some have been eagerly making plans to travel, now lockdown appears to be over, and I have throughly recommended this book to the entire class.
The most telling phrase in this book was, ‘ The French are different, because they are French’. So true!
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers, Little, Brown Book group, for my digital copy in exchange for my honest, unsolicited review.
I have given this a five star rating. I will leave reviews to Goodreads and Amazon.