Book Review: Minding Frankie

It has been far too long since I've read a book by Maeve Binchy. She is a fabulous writer. Binchy has that rare Dickensian gift of being able to people a landscape with her fully embodied characters so you feel you live right alongside them and share in their joys and sorrows. Minding Frankie continues that tradition, tying in characters previously encountered and introducing new ones.

I listened to this Binchy book. While I usually prefer Binchy's books delivered in this format, with the Irish accent, I would have prefered reading this one for myself. In Minding Frankie, Binchy introduces an American relative, visiting family in Ireland, who ends up staying and transforming the lives in the neighborhood of St. Jarlath's Crescent. Plus, another character turns up from New Zealand, claiming to be an unknown son. Although this narrator did a fine job with the Irish voices, I didn't care for her presentation of the American or New Zealand. The American, Emily, ends up with a simpering sort of voice that didn't really seem to jibe with her character. The New Zealand character also seemed forced, with too many pauses and inflections.

I believe Binchy did not need to introduce the American character into the scene. The Dublin set seem perfectly fine without bringing in a foreigner who came off with superhuman powers of observation, organization, and inspiration. Emily was, perhaps, too perfect.

Regardless of the narration and possibly unnecessary character, this was again a Binchy masterpiece. The story centers on an unmotivated fellow named Noel who discovers that he has fathered a child during one of his drunken sprees. The mother, on her deathbed, begs him to care for Frankie and keep her out of the foster system. At first Noel reacts with denial, but eventually faces his responsibility for this child, shakes off his alcoholic tendencies, and applies himself in ways that no one ever thought possible.

Unfortunately, the social worker doesn't fully believe Noel is the best fit for the child. She is determined to dig up dirt on Noel so that she can place Frankie in a "more suitable environment." Noel surrounds himself with a whole network of people in the neighborhood who help to care for and love Frankie. In the process of minding Frankie, many characters discover that nurturing a child is a powerful way to center life.

I'm thrilled that I can pick up this most recent Binchy book without having read the books in between. Each of her books does a fine job of standing alone. But they also provide an enduring legacy for characters we meet again and again in the landscape of her fiction.