Damian, a young Irishman living in London, enjoys his job as a carer of wealthy, elderly people. His preference is for the night shift. Once he settles his charge for the night, he’s free to read a book or watch films on his laptop.
He encourages clients to talk about their life if they are not tired when he arrives at 7.00pm.
Frances ‘Frankie’ Howe, an Irish woman in her 80s, is reticent at first. When she realises Damian is actually listening to her anecdotes, she takes him (and us) back in time to Ireland in the 1950s where tragedy strikes very early in her life.
Frankie moves to London and lands a dream job that requires her to travel to New York. There, she meets the love of her life and marries him. Fantastic things happen, good and not so good. When her lawyer warns her that one of the not so good things is likely to land her in court, resulting in a jail term, she moves back to London.
Early in life, Frankie is naive. Later, she’s lucky, resilient, plucky and benevolent. The people she meets are charming, exciting and exotic, with a few bastards thrown in to make it provocative.
Fans of Graham Norton’s novels will not be disappointed with Frankie.
Reviewed by Clive Hodges
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Graham Norton is one of the UK’s most treasured comedians and presenters. Born in Clondalkin, a suburb of Dublin, Norton’s first big TV appearance was as Father Noel Furlong on Channel 4’s Father Ted in the early 1990s. He then secured a prime time slot on Channel 4 with his chat shows So Graham Norton and V Graham Norton.
Known for his quick wit Graham began hosting a variety of talent shows on BBC One from Strictly Dance Fever and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? to The Eurovision Song Contest and BAFTAs. Graham was soon approached by the BBC to front his own self-titled chat show The Graham Norton Show in 2007.
Graham Norton has won 9 BAFTAs for Best Entertainment Performance, and Best Entertainment Programme. He presents The Graham Norton Show on BBC1, a show on BBC Radio 2 every Saturday, and is a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. Norton won the Special Recognition Award at the National Television Awards in 2017.
0 Comments