‘A good governess is the backbone of any family, she is as much a part of the children’s lives as the woman who bore them.’
I remembered reading the sentence when I just found out I was pregnant and I had wholeheartedly disagreed with it already. Not only was the concept of a mother reduced to ‘the woman who bore them’, a governess could mean just about a hundred things. Some lunas called their children’s tutors governess, others used the term for their nannies. When Aris introduced me to Laureen, it was clear that she had a very clear job in mind for herself.
She was both a tutor and a nanny, but also happily became a servant’s master, officer, detective and disciplinarian to anyone around her and whenever she felt it was necessary. Aris said that she is the best governess in the kingd
