The Tale of Miss Berta London

A tale imagines an Anna Wintour-esque figure as Mary Poppins performing social work in Brooklyn.

Latimer’s debut YA novel introduces Miss Berta London, a wealthy New Yorker who rules Eloquent Fashion Magazine with an iron fist. When Miss Berta demands drastic, last-minute changes to the magazine’s photo shoot/fashion show, “top representatives from some of the best fashion companies” are disgusted by her “punk, urban risk to be edgy.” A media frenzy ensues, Miss Berta berates her staff, designers refuse to “endorse” the publication, and Eloquent Fashion Magazine folds. Suddenly humble, Miss Berta apologizes to model Heather Tilling, “the nicest action she had ever done for anyone.” Believing that “my failure means destiny is speaking to me,” Miss Berta pursues a teaching certificate, then becomes a nanny despite being “not very acquainted with children.” She gains the trust of her three young charges, organizes their schedules and wardrobes, and mends the family dynamic as she begins to “contribute to society in a positive way.” Heather connects the nanny with “a business investor” who offers Miss Berta her own family-themed magazine. Three years later, with the new publication a success, Miss Berta discovers the “abnormal” Johnson family, a single-parent household struggling financially. Because of her “background in education and previous nanny experience,” she believes it is “her duty to help the Johnsons,” but Henrietta Johnson slams the door in her face. Twice. Undeterred, Miss Berta connects with AJ, Henrietta’s underage son, promising him a laptop and a trip to Geneva in exchange for a cover story about his life in the “sewer.” The author, like Miss Berta, seems unaware of the exploitative ramifications of a media mogul literally forcing herself into a family’s home and becoming a boy’s teacher to serve as “a source of inspiration.” Miss Berta tells AJ: “Never let your background interfere with your destiny.” After Henrietta’s boyfriend, Lucas, gets into a fight with AJ and the narrative offers an odd kidnapping plot, loose ends are tied up neatly. But will everyone be grateful for mansion-dwelling, globe-trotting, magazine-owning Miss Berta? Well-intentioned, but ultimately tone-deaf, this book breaches the limits of credibility in an attempt to motivate “today’s youth.”

A novel about a magazine editor’s trials and crusades that fails to deliver a convincing plot.