Minding Frankie

A host of familiar characters reappear in Maeve Binchy's latest book Minding Frankie (#90).   The toast "To family and friends!" sums up the stuff of this novel very well.  Emily Lynch has been laid off from her long time job as a New York City art teacher because her methods are too old fashioned to suit the new administration.   Emily isn't one to take things lying down, so she goes about learning new skills and planning a vacation in Dublin.  Life changes for a number of people the day that Emily Lynch arrives at St. Jarlath's Crescent to meet the Irish family she's never met.   She organizes things effortlessly and sets people down paths that they never would have ventured on their own.  She recognizes the secrets of family members and lends a sympathetic ear.  Soon no one in the neighborhood can imagine what life was like before she came.

Soon after Emily's arrival her cousin Noel confides in her that he has gone to the hospital to meet an former girlfriend who has contacted him with unexpected news: Stella is pregnant with Noel's child, but she is also dying.  She wants "no hoper" Noel to take Frankie (Frances Stella Dixon Lynch, if you please! Making her I guess the lynchpin of the story [Sorry, I couldn't resist that.]).  Emily's reaction stuns Noel when he tells her he has rejected Stella's request; he's convinces he can't be the father and besides, he knows nothing about raising a child.  Emily doesn't accept or admire his decision; quite the opposite.  And that's the catalyst that sets in motion the ensuing chain of events that that prove to be the making of Noel as his family and friends step up to "mind Frankie".  Just down the street young doctor Declan Carroll and his wife Fiona's baby Johnny arrives the same day, so the two babies have a built in network of grandparents and friends to care for both of them.  Noel's decision to return to school to provide a better future for Frankie brings even more people into Frankie's orbit.  Noel acquires Lisa Kelly, a classmate, as a roommate to help take care of Frankie and to be a "study buddy".  The biggest obstacle to making this bright future for Frankie a reality is Moira, the social worker assigned to Frankie's case.  Moira is efficient and effective at her job, but she is bound and determined to take Frankie away from her father and place her in a "better home".  She pops up at unexpected times and places, interrogating neighbors and family about Frankie's care, and constantly trying to find a reason to remove Frankie.  She is a social worker singularly lacking in the necessary social graces as she goes about alienating the very people she is meant to help. 

I certainly hope that Ms. Binchy will continue to write about the people in Minding Frankie.  I would like to find out what happens next to so many of these characters.  I definitely don't think we've seen the last of Moira the miserable.  There's still way too much of her story to play out.

If I were truly a literary critic, I wouldn't admit that I was glad the tissues were close to hand as I read this book.  Birth, death, marriages, separations, starting over - they're all such ordinary occurences.  Maeve Binchy tells of them all in a real and immediate way.  It's not that the births or the deaths are melodramatic or extraordinary; it's just the opposite.  Relating the deaths of two of the characters in such a prosaic, straightforward fashion make the losses doubly affecting.  Most of us will recognize that we have been right there at some point in our lives.  People do make wrong choices.  The point is how they cope with the consequences and strive to do the right thing in spite of their circumstances.  The proof is that they don't have to be big or heroic to be a positive influence on those around them.  They can be everyday people like Emily and Noel and Lisa and Muttie and the rest of the characters in this book.   No wonder Maeve Binchy has such a large and loyal following.  Bring on the next installment!