The Au Pair

Elizabeth Sastre and Nicola Barber adeptly share the narration of a thrilling story of family scandal. Sastre gives voice to the suspicious Seraphine Mayes, a contemporary young woman who has begun to wonder about the true nature of her parentage. Sastre delivers the character's fearful observations in a tone of youthful suspicion and anxiety. Barber voices Laura, a young au pair in the 1990s, giving her a voice of na�vet� and expressing the deep distress Laura feels when making difficult choices. The dual narrators make it easy to discern between two perspectives and time frames with their own pacing and emphasis. What results is a thrilling mystery with two powerful performances. V.B. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Seraphine Mayes is one of the Summerbourne clan and has led a privileged life. However, along with twin brother, Danny, and older brother, Edwin, she has had a childhood without the guidance and love of their mother. The Summerbournes have weathered many tragedies, some that have become legend. But the suicide of their mother, Ruth, on the same day that the twins were born is one that they have never recovered from. The narrative of The Au Pair is split between Seraphine and Laura, who was au pair to Edwin, while the lives of Ruth, her husband, Dominic, and lover, Alex, are unravelling. Laura is a young woman with her own family problems who is thrown into the turmoil of adult tragedies. However, she does hold the key to what really went on, on the day that the twins were born and Ruth died. When Seraphine’s father dies unexpectedly after falling from a rooftop, she starts to rummage through boxes of photos and discovers one that strikes her as unusual. It was taken on the day she was born, and her mother died. Ruth is pictured with just one child and looking contented only hours before she took her own life. Seraphine, fuelled by grief, decides to track down Laura, the au pair who also disappeared on that day, to find out what she knows about the events. She has no idea what is to come. The split narrative increases the suspense as we slip between present day as the story unfolds and 25 years in the lead-up to the tragedy. Filled with intrigue, The Au Pair had me guessing until the final pages. This is an impressive debut novel. Reviewed by Melissa Wilson

Emma Rous’ debut novel, The Au Pair, is a delightfully paced gothic tale about a family’s snarled secrets and what happens when you start pulling at their strings. Seraphine is staying at Summerbourne, her family’s manor on the Norfolk coast, mourning the death of her father and reminiscing about her childhood. While rifling through old family photo albums, she is shocked to stumble across a chilling image. In it, her mother holds a baby, and Seraphine’s older brother and father stand smiling in the picture. The photograph is picture-perfect: a family posing proudly with their newborn. But Seraphine is a twin, and hours after she and her twin brother, Danny, were born, her mother tragically threw herself from the cliffs behind their luxurious home. The mourning daughter begins a hunt for clues as to what happened on that dreadful day and why only one baby is in the photograph. Her search leads her to Laura, the family’s former au pair, who mysteriously left Summerbourne the same day Seraphine and Danny were born and their mother died. Then messages—at first subtle and then explicit—are sent to stop Seraphine from digging any deeper. Her brothers begin to worry for her sanity and then her safety, as odd events start to unfold throughout her search for the truth. Told in interweaving narratives of Seraphine’s present and Laura’s past, The Au Pair is a thrilling tale that plays on local folklore, hidden family histories and the small decisions that alter the trajectories of many lives. With vivid characters, a magical setting and a tightly knitted plot, The Au Pair is a splendid read that will be best enjoyed with a book club or a buddy, as you’ll be itching to digest the tale’s twists with someone else, especially when you reach the jaw-dropping climax.   This article was originally published in the January 2019 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.