Shakespeare References in The Nanny Diaries

The novel The Nanny Diaries, written by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, contains a couple of Shakespeare references. The first is to Romeo And Juliet. Each chapter of this novel begins with a quoted passage from another work, and the second chapter begins with a speech from Romeo And Juliet: “Lord, how my head aches! What a head have I!/My back at t’ other side – ah, my back, my back!/Beshrew your heart for sending me about/To catch my death with jauncing up and down!” (p. 44). And below those lines, the book reads, “The Nurse, Romeo And Juliet.” The other reference is to Shakespeare, with McLaughlin and Kraus having their main character tell the child she takes care of, “Go get into bed and I’ll read you one verse from your Shakespeare reader and then it’s lights out” (p. 220).

The Nanny Diaries was published in 2002. The copy I read was a hardcover edition that the local library no longer wanted.