I received an ARC of this book via netgalley and am grateful for the opportunity. I enjoyed this book which moved backwards and forwards in time following the life of Frankie. From remote and rural Ireland to London and New York Frankie tells her Carer Daniel about the ups and downs of her life. I found it an engaging read. This book portrays the lives of LBGT characters during Frankie's lifetime and my only complaint is that almost everyone in the book (and there are many characters) is portrayed as LGBT - not a reflection on reality then or now.

This is an interesting, insightful and emotional read about an elderly woman, the protagonist Frankie, who is begrudgingly being cared for following a fall. The book tells her life story; from her incredibly sad beginnings, through to the excitement of New York as she relates it to her young Irish career, Damian.

It’s an easy, quite cozy read, with emotional elements, particularly when describing the effects of AIDS in the 80’s.
I also enjoyed the friendship between Frankie and Norah as it evoked perfectly for me, the importance and strength of female friendships and the author brings to life the emotional ups and downs of what appears to be an ordinary life and which is, in fact, extraordinary.

Graham Norton is an excellent storyteller and this I found to be a real page turner and I’d highly recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the opp

Orphaned at a young age, Frances Howe is brought up by severely religious relatives, her only joy is with her best friend Norah. When Norah leaves Cork for London, Frankie is married off to a older man but when her marriage breaks down she joins Norah. Taken up by a predatory agent, Frankie is left in New York with no money and no way to return to her previous life so she makes the most of it. She falls in love with an artist and takes over a small restaurant however, after the ravages of AIDS, her world falls apart.
As with all Norton's books, there is a genuinely warm heart at the core here. The story is partly about the Irish diaspora but also about the history of LGBTQ lives through from the fifties to the AIDS era and, without being preachy, Norton makes his points. It's a readable book, quick to scamper through but actually is more profound that you might think.

I think I have loved every novel written by Graham Norton and this was no exception. We follow the eventful life of Francis Howe, who is at the age of 84 has broken her ankle and this leads her to met Damian, a carer, to whom she tells her life story. Moving from rural Ireland to London and then New York we encounter life with all its highs and lows. The author writes with great empathy for his characters and he paints them and the various eras in history with skill. I’ll be looking forward to his next book with great anticipation. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ERC of this novel in return for an honest review.

Am clearly in the minority but did not enjoy this book. To me it seemed cliched - woman leaves Irish village to go to London and then New York, finding herself along the way.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Loved it, as ever Graham Norton delivers. This delightful story of Frankie and her life, love and friendships across decades in Ireland, London and New York just blew me away.
Grahams natural talent for storytelling in a quiet and yet powerful way get me every time.

What a fabulous read. This is the first book I've read by Graham Norton and boy was itva good one absolutely adored Frankie her story was so interesting and beautifully written I just couldn't put it down. The characters were all relatable and the ending was perfect even though I was sad to finish in. A highly recommend 5⭐read

Thanks to NetGalley, publishers and author for an ARC of Frankie.

I have just finished this book, and boy am I feeling ALL of the emotions right now. This was an amazing story with love, friendship and hardships thrown into the mix. By far the best book by Graham Norton so far.
Highly recommend.

This was the first book I’ve read by Graham Norton and so I really didn’t know what to expect. What I got was a very addictive and enjoyable read.

Many thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this ARC for which I have given my voluntary and unbiased review.

A sensitive and emotional novel by the popular TV presenter Graham Norton. The story is well written but I did not engage with the characters or the narrative pace.

I have read most of Graham Norton's books and I think this now one of my favourites. Unlike most of his other books, this travels from Ireland to America ending in London. Frances Howe is an orphan who is married off to a much older religious man who is much older than her. Her awakening to real life is quite awful so she flees to London to her childhood friend Nor. Frances is unprepared for the lesbian circles that Nor exists in and after securing a job with Van Everden she ends up alone and abandoned in America. Frances, now known as Frankie, starts again in New York with Joe, a talented artist. This whole story is recounted to Damien, a carer looking after Frankie in modern day London. I really engaged with the characters here, not all of them who they seem. It is a povely book which is well written and such a good read.

I love graham Norton and his writing this book did not disappoint. I loved the characters Frankie and no and Damian a channel for Frankie’s story.

This was such an enjoyable piece of escapism, written in Graham Norton's inimitable, intelligent, empathetic style. While more ambitious than some of his other novels, it loses none of its warmth in the process.

Frankie is a protagonist for the ages. We meet her as an elderly woman being cared for by a young gay man in London. In flashbacks to her youth, we are transported to West Cork and New York, tracking Frankie's unexpected life in which she never had the starring role but somehow always stayed true to herself and her inner strength of character.

Born in West Cork, Frankie has a colourful (and tragic) early life, culminating in her becoming the wife of the much older clergyman in her village. Things take an unexpected turn, however, and Frankie ends up in New York, married to struggling artist Joe. Well-researched and pacey, the reader is immersed in New York of the 1970s and 80s, and the devastation of the AIDS crisis that decimated the gay community during this time.

Just the right amount of intrigue and wonderful storytelling, I loved this book. My mam borrowed it and read it before me, and she loved it too so it's one to share with family and friends. Graham is an absolute treasure and I will look forward to his next book, they just get better and better. I was extra delighted to have received an early #gifted copy from publisher @hachetteireland that was personally signed by Graham himself!

@currentlyreading__
Book 61 of 2024

I read Graham Norton’s debut novel a while back and still need to read his others after always being on the fence about celebrity authors. He has a naturally garrulous style (obviously from years of honing his craft as a talk show host) and I loved the characterisation of Frankie, Damien, Nor and all of the other characters we come across during this beautifully emotive tale.

Damien is a carer who’s been placed on shift to look after elderly woman Frances ‘Frankie’ Howe after an injury leaving her with a broken ankle. As dismissive as Frankie was about needing care, she forms a bond with the young Damien and recounts the story of her life, from her friendships in West Cork, her ill-fated marriage to a clergyman and her adventures in New York after an awful trip with her then boss.

This book gripped me and I was just mesmerised by the telling of Frankie’s life story. It was sensitive, emotional and just what I needed to purge some emotions. A tear-jerker and I will recommend this whole-heartedly.


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What can't Mr Norton do? He has a great talk show, is hilarious on Father Ted, wrote a book called Holding that was great then wrote Frankie, which is completely different to Holding uet had me captivated throughout.

It is a lovely heartwarming story about Frankie, an elderly lady who Damien goes to care for. Frankie tells the story if her life to Damien whilst it also touches on how LGBTQ was viewed many years ago and the stigma that can still arise.

I really enjoyed the book, it was sad in some parts but a great read.

I sometimes feel that in the modern world of special effects, clickbait, smartphones and short attention spans, the art of storytelling and anecdotes is on the wane.

How lovely it was, then, to read Frankie, a sweet and gentle novel where the protagonist Frankie simply sits her young carer Damien down and narrates the story of her life. In many ways an unremarkable life, no fame, fortune, or big twists, just a simple tale of Frankie's relationships, friendships and passions.

A really lovely read.

When a careworker goes to work for a grumpy, eccentric and fiercely independent older lady he becomes intrigued by her life story.

Over the course of a few weeks she opens up to him and tells him more and more of her background, from her strict religious childhood and teens in Ireland to her experiences in America of the bohemian art movement and an emerging gay scene.

A fascinating story - I really liked main character Frankie. I really enjoyed Graham Norton's writing style, it feels as though you are listening to the stories of a family member!

This is a sweet, heart-warming story about a young man who makes a connection with an elderly woman. Damien is a carer, and a good one, who really listens, giving elderly Frankie the opportunity to relive her past through her narration. Frankie’s story is peppered with an interesting array of characters and events and is very moving at times. The novel is a sweet reminder of how memory and human connection can keep the dimming candle of youth and vitality burning.

I really didn't enjoy this one very much as I found it very disturbing. This is the second book by Graham that I've read and haven't enjoyed which is a shame. I did finish this one. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Do you ever look at an elderly person and think, what is your story? what life have you led & journey have you been on to get to where you are today?
Was life & the world kind to you? Or has hardship & pain shaped the person you are here in front of me?

In the 8 plus decades you have lived, how many times have you fallen in love? Had your heart broken? Given anyway a piece of your heart to never get it back? Did all your dreams come true or did they simply change like the seasons?

Do you look back at your life with contentment or regrets?
If you could go back to your younger self, what's the one thing you would say?

I always think these things & I love when an elderly person tells me snippets of their past & tales of the life they have lived, this is exactly what Norton has given us with Frankie, we are brought on an epic journey as present day Frankie recants her life story to her carer Damien, from Ireland in the 50s when religion influenced every aspect of life & woman’s opinions rarely mattered, on to London then New York and back to London again in the late 80s.

Frankie has been through so much in her life & seen first hand some of the huge changes/events of society through the eras & oh the heartbreak she has experienced yet she never appears bitter instead shakes herself off holds her head up high & carries on. Frankie was a truly beautiful character, she spent a lot of her life on the sidelines of others while never truly grasping how much she lit up the world, life was not always kind to her, yet kindness never left her. As for Nor? Oh how I loved Nor, the friend everyone should have & her last line broke my heart.

Norton's writing is beautiful, lyrical & almost poetic, he has an incredible talent for writing stories that pull you right into them & hold you tight, with characters that feel so real you can almost touch them. He managed to write a story that had me feeling every emotion, I laughed, cried, got angry & cried some more.

Thank you Mr. Norton for the gift that is Frankie.