Twenty-year-old Claire Fearon had been working as an au pair in New York for a year when a new opportunity came her way. 'I was chatting with the family's paediatrician and he mentioned that he knew a family who were desperate - their nanny had had an accident and there was no one to take care of their newborn baby. They were prepared to pay really well for someone who came recommended -and his recommendation was better than any reference in the world!'
Within days, Claire realised she had become the best paid nanny in Washington Square Park. The family lived in an enormous loft-style apartment of the kind you see in movies - split-level rooms, huge kitchen, full-length windows and an iron elevator that opened up into the living room.
The father was a filmmaker and the mother ran her own design company. Baby Sophie had been a last-minute addition to the family, coming when her mother, Rosa, in her early forties, was at the top of her career. 'Rosa showed me some pictures of herself in labour, with her hands on the laptop computer,' says Claire. 'And some pictures of her cuddling Sophie after the birth, still working on the laptop. But that's New York. Women really work there.
'It was a fantastic life. I'd dress the baby, then head out for coffee and croissants with friends. We'd go to a park - and the sandpits are fantastic -lunch out, then take the children to a Gymboree class in the afternoon.
It was always nannies, never mums. Most mums were in their thirties - I don't think I met a young mum all the time I was out there.'
And celebrities seemed to be everywhere. 'I met Susan Sarandon and Gabriel Byrne when they came to pick up children from parties or kids' clubs. They were both very friendly - and very monied!'
Later Claire would take Sophie home for dinner, get her into her pyjamas, hop into a taxi and drop her off at Rosa's office. The secretaries would look after her until mum finished work around 9pm. 'Sophie would usually be asleep in her pram by then.'
But Claire and her employers were slightly worried when it became apparent that Sophie would not be held by anyone apart from her adored nanny. 'I carried her everywhere,' says Claire. 'She wouldn't go back to Rosa, or to anyone else.'
At home, Sophie would not go to sleep unless Claire was rocking her in her arms. Evenings would be spent on standby. If the baby awoke later on and Claire had gone home for the night, Rosa would phone her. Claire would leave her flat in Manhattan, jump into a taxi to the apartment, put Sophie to sleep, then catch another cab home.
'I did say that I was conscious how much Sophie had bonded with me,' Claire says. 'And that I wouldn't be there forever. But for five days a week, nine to six, I was the only person taking care of Sophie - she didn't really know anyone else.'
After a year in the job, when Sophie was 14 months old, Claire decided to return to England. Her relationship with Sophie's parents had been good, but now it became traumatic. Claire recalls,'The mother lost it completely.
She was shouting at me, "How can you do this to her? You're ruining her life!" I kept saying, "She's not my baby. You knew I wasn't going to be here for ever".'
Claire gave two months' notice and even found a replacement nanny among her friends. 'Terry had known Sophie since her birth - in fact I had to poach her from the family she was with at the time - but Rosa wouldn't talk to me up until the day I left.'
Sophie's parents never forgave their nanny for what they considered to be her disloyalty to their daughter. But Claire stayed in touch with a family friend, who kept her up-to-date with their news. Sophie became lethargic after Claire left, refusing to eat or sleep - typical symptoms, apparently, of a baby whose mother or main carer suddenly dies or leaves. 'Obviously I felt guilty,' Claire admits. 'I had been very attached to Sophie. But I needed my own life.'
Claire now has her own little boy, who's nearly two. She doesn't nanny any more but is training to be a childminder. She has done a lot of thinking about that job and doesn't regret any of it - although she says, 'The ending was messy. The mother was angry because she had to take responsibility for her child - the fact I was leaving forced her to confront her role as a working mother.
'But New York is a great place to work. With restaurants so cheap, no one eats at home - I ate in about once a month. My apartment in Manhattan had a 24-hour doorman and gym, and it was ordinary! But the women there are different creatures. They work all the time. They can be harder work for the nanny than the children!'
