Au pair for a year
In a small town in France year old Marie-Theres's unsuitable first love deserts her and she fails her Baccalaureate. Her conventional parents, initally angry, assume that she will return to the lycee, retake her exams the following year and read medicine as originallly planned. After a miserable summer with no sign of her love affair rekindling and no discussion of any options Marie is desperate about the future.She spots an advertisement for Au Pairs in London and applies. However the agency places her with a dysfunctional family who live in rural Essex rather among the bright lights of London.
The family have two lively boys of 10 and 8 but it is to the blind, marginalised 16 year old daughter that she is assigned. At first Holly resents Marie's presence as an unwanted companion and a stark reminder of the kind of girl she would like to be. But gradually a relationship develops between the two girls. Holly helps Marie improve her English and adjust to life in England and, much to her mother's horror, Holly is
introduced to teenage life by Marie.
Holly has a strained relationship with her mother and confides in Marie that she longs to meet her father whose existence is not acknowledged in the family. Holly's mother was jilted and for the first 10 years brought up Holly alone despite the intense opposition of her family. Holly's step father is not actively unkind but he is no match for his strong willed and jealous wife.
The two girls set out to find Holly's father. They are successful but he rejects Holly. However she discovers grandparents and an aunt who are delighted to meet Hooly with whom they have been trying to have contact with many years. A positive relationship develops.
The girls have many adventures on the way and discover the source of Holly's mothers ambivalent feelings towards her. Holly becomes stronger and begins to make plans for an independent future. Marie gains a better perspective on her own family and decides that at the end of the year she will return to resit her exams and go to University.
With Maries support and her stepfather's growing positive intervention, Holly's position in the family improves and her mother is able to acknowledge her guilt. Holly in reurn recognises the sacrifies her mother made for her and learns to admire the success that she had made of her career.
Marie recognises that she is falling love with Holly's step-father and is in danger of forming a second inappropriate relationship. She beats a hasty retreat back to France before its too late. Initally Holly is devestated but with her mother's help starts to put into operation the plans which she and Holly had made.
I like this a lot - and I like the ending, with the moral choice that must be made. It seems very promising. You've sorted out the details of the French side of things, at first blush, with some convincing details. The psychology of the main characters involved also seems convincing and the story has a satisfying progression. You will need a few more twists and turns but as a general outline this seems a firm base to work on.
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