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Minding Frankie

by Maeve Binchy
Knopf. Mar. 2011. c.384p. ISBN 9780307273567. $26.95. F
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Fans of Irish author Binchy will welcome the return of some familiar faces (from Quentins; Heart and Soul; Scarlet Feather) and also enjoy meeting new characters in her latest. Frankie is a little girl born as her mother Stella is dying of cancer. During the last stages of her life, Stella contacts Noel, a one-night stand whom she claims is the father. Noel has a host of his own problems but decides to pull things together for the child. Friends and family help out, but the social worker assigned to the case cannot accept the arrangements. Having never dealt with her own troubled childhood, she works to find proof that Frankie would be better off in foster care. The brief appearances of so many characters from previous works might be annoying, but the stories of Noel, his cousin Emily, and his friend Lisa, along with the social worker who wants to pull them apart and the little girl who pulls them together, make this novel fresh and appealing.
VERDICT An enjoyable novel about life, love, and second chances. [300,000-copy first printing; see Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/10.]
Reviewed by Beth Blakesley, Washington State Univ. Libs., Pullman , Jan 01, 2011
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