Frankie

November 15, 2024
In this decades-spanning drama, a lonely octogenarian recalls her extraordinary life and the important role she played in the lives of her friends and family. In his inimitably charming way, author, comedian, and talk show host Norton tells the tale of Frances "Frankie" Howe, whose story, like the author's, is rooted in Ireland. As the novel opens, 84-year-old Frankie is sequestered in her London home after having broken an ankle. Damian, a young Irishman, is hired to care for her. The cantankerous Frankie is drawn to Damian, who encourages her to share her life story. Born in Ireland and orphaned at an early age, Frankie was sent to live with an aunt and uncle with conservative ideas about women. In 1950s Ireland, most women were discouraged from following their dreams and, when Frankie turned 18, she was pressured into marrying a clergyman more than twice her age. Frankie's suffocating life was common for many women of that era, and Norton paints a formidable picture of how culturally imposed limitations made many women feel betrayed by the world. But Frankie's life, in Norton's deft hands, turns colorful, dramatic, and full of light. Serendipity takes her to England, where's she's again betrayed by people meant to protect her, and then on to New York City, where fate hands her a romantic respite, a career, and friendships she never anticipated. Norton beautifully evokes settings including the lesbian culture of 1960s London, the art world in 1970s and '80s New York, and the heartbreaking emergence of the AIDS epidemic. As in his four earlier novels, Norton ably captures the lives of ordinary people struggling to find their way in an often harsh world. This feel-good story of an unlikely friendship soothes and surprises with its tenderness.

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November 25, 2024
The pleasing latest from talk show host Norton (after Forever Home) traces an Irishwoman’s circuitous journey toward self-fulfillment. Frankie Howe, an 84-year-old West Londoner, tells her life story to her young caretaker, with whom she bonds over hailing from the same part of Cork. Her story begins in 1950 when, at 10, her parents die in a freak accident and she’s sent to live with religious relatives, who marry her off to a man named Canon Frost. Naive and unhappy with her neglectful and philandering husband, she’s spied kissing another man and renounced by Canon after word gets back to him. She flees to London in 1960, where a childhood friend takes her in and introduces her to mercurial theater producer Van Everdeen, who hires Frankie as her secretary. During a trip with Van to New York, Frankie loses her job and return ticket thanks to Van’s temper, then lucks into a new romance and builds a life there, eventually becoming a chef at a French restaurant. Troubles ensue as the narrative extends to the AIDS epidemic, which plays a role in Frankie’s eventual return to London. Norton’s character work is top notch as Frankie perseveres through one challenge after another. Readers will be glad to go along for the ride. Agent: Melanie Rockcliffe, YMU.

December 1, 2024
Norton's latest goes a little farther afield than his usual Ireland-set novels, like Forever Home (2023), but it still centers on a woman from a small Irish village. When 84-year-old Londoner Frances Howe breaks her leg, carer Damian is hired to look after her overnight. Though she is reserved at first, her best friend Nor encourages her to relax, and soon Frances is telling Damian her life story. As a young girl in Cork, Ireland, her parents die suddenly and she's sent to live with her religious aunt and uncle. A disastrous marriage to an older parson ends abruptly, and Frances is sent to London to stay with her friend Norah, where Frances becomes Frankie. Another disaster lands her in New York, where she is taken in by an aspiring artist. As chapters alternate between Frankie's past--her brushes with the art world and the queer community--and her present, readers will appreciate Frankie's nine lives and how, like a cat, she always manages to land on her feet. Richly told and portraying an unforgettable protagonist, Frankie will appeal to readers of character-driven historical fiction.

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