Svenja, age 37, is about to be promoted to the executive ranks of a large advertising agency. But then she finds out she’s pregnant. The father is someone she had a fling with on vacation, she doesn’t even have his address. And that’s not the only surprise in store for Svenja: the ultrasound picture clearly shows two dots. She’s having twins.
After all, handling a million-dollar account doesn’t make her nervous, why should this?
When the agency finds out she’s pregnant, her promotion is postponed. The family side of things isn’t turning out much better: her mother doesn’t want to be a “babysitter on call,” neither does her sister. Svenja starts getting desperate: she wants to come back from her maternity leave as her old self, giving her bosses no reason not to promote her. Her last hope is a full-time nanny, but she only finds ones she can’t afford or ones she would never trust with her children.
Then she meets 29-year-old Alexei. He’s great with kids and needs money… and he makes an unusual suggestion: he can move in with her as a male nanny. The idea is utterly absurd… but what’s the alternative?
368 pages, 3-426-62978-X
October 2007
