Happy Families by Janey Fraser

Bobbie ’s at the end of her tether. Her children don’t listen to a word she says and her workaholic husband is never home.  Even worse, her mother is bringing a new boyfriend to visit: the notorious Dr Know, who dishes out hard-line parental advice to the nation. Could Parenting Classes save Bobbie’s bacon?

Andy ’s family is so perfect that his wife has been asked to run a parenting class at the local school. But Pamela has been leading a secret life and suddenly he’s left to look after their two teenage daughters. Surprisingly, they aren’t quite as perfect as he thought.

Vanessa hasn’t seen her daughter for years. But one night, her six-year-old granddaughter is deposited on her doorstep. This time she’s determined to get it right. Read more...

The Au Pair by Janey Fraser

Bonjour! Je m’appelle Antoinette Malfille and I am enormously excitable about becoming au pair! I have 19 years of age and have forever desired to visit Angleterre. My hobbies are clubbing and drinking. I tolerate children. I have (almost) forsaken smoking. I am available to work for you until Christmas as I do not pass my Baccalaureate. I await to meet you!

So starts the opening to THE AU PAIR, a romp through the world of foreign bodies and unsuspecting families. Jilly, a harassed mother of three, decides to set up an au pair agency around her kitchen table to help with family finances. Over the Channel, Marie-France signs up for Jilly’s agency in order to search for her English father who’d had a fling with her mother when she’d been an au pair, some twenty years earlier. Then there’s eight year old Lottie who is determined to drive away one au pair after another – until she meets her match. With a cast of characters drawn straight from real life, The Au Pair takes a hilarious look at what happens when an au pair takes over your family.

From the author of The Playgroup a hilarious book about families, au pairs, and the chaos that ensues when the two come together. Read more...

The Playgroup by Janey Fraser

Take three adults and mix them with a group of under-fives at Puddleducks Playgroup.

What do you get?

A steaming story about love, envy, laughter and tears. Gemma, the young acting playgroup leader has a secret which could wreck someone else’s life.

Nancy, a panicky first-time mum needs to save her child – and her marriage. Joe, the handsome, moody new head of Reception has to learn some lessons himself before he can pass them onto his class.

Then little Lily, the daughter of a celebrity singer, goes missing and Danny, her small friend is diagnosed with the kind of illness that every parent dreads.

Will they all pull through? All is revealed when Puddleducks Playgroup puts on its annual nativity Christmas play – with an unexpected ending.

There’s lots of fun, humour and romance but, as one reviewer said, ‘it will also make you hold your breath until the last page’. Read more...