The au pair girl

I just finished reading Family Album  by Penelope Lively and I think this book and The Italian Girl by Iris Murdoch have something in common - apart from the fact that both books were written by women - , there is an au pair girl in both books that at first you may think is not important, but in the end you realize that she is an essential character in both stories.
Funny isn't it?
I didn't like much Family Album, I was also a member of a really big family and things were quite different from what she tells in this book.  It's just an opinion - of course