Minding Frankie

By MAEVE BINCHY

RRP: $39.99, Published by Orion, October 72010

Noel and Lisa are among the most supportive parents at the nursery school. Never late to pick up their little girl, always patient and delighted to see her at the end of the day. But in fact neither of them are Frankie’s parents. They have no blood relationship to her at all. They are there first because of a promise, and they stayed because Frankie became a life-line to them both. She was the only reason their lives stayed on track and because of her they found the strength to fight their demons.

The problem was keeping this secret from the eyes and ears of the social workers. If it were known that Noel was an alcoholic and Lisa a serious fantasist Frankie would not remain another day in their care. And yet if she were taken away, lives would be destroyed.

Maeve Binchy explains the background to Minding Frankie;

‘I have always been very interested in how childhood forms what we are in later life. I was a big, jolly, happy child, surrounded by people who told me that I was the best girl in the world – which I believed totally and remained all these things seventy years later. So I decided to write about a child who is accidentally born into a confused situation. Minding Frankie is a story about unconventional families, and relationships, and people who are all doing their best – although sometimes it doesn’t seem like it. There’s a fair amount of heartbreak in the story but also a lot of humour.’

About the Author

Maeve Binchy is one of the world’s best-loved and most successful authors. Read all over the world and translated into 30 languages, worldwide sales of Maeve Binchy now exceed a staggering 40 million copies. Maeve was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award at the British Book Awards in 1999. In 2007, she joined an august band of writers including Seamus Heaney and John Banville when she was presented with the Irish PEN/AT Cross Literary Award to recognize a lifetime of literary achievement.

For further information visit www.maevebinchy.com 
 

Published 26th Oct 2010

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