MINDING FRANKIE

MINDING FRANKIE by Maeve Binchy was read for the Pub 2011 Reading Challenge and the Ireland Reading Challenge 2011.

From the book jacket:

Maeve Binchy is back with a tale of joy, heartbreak and hope, about a motherless girl collectively raised by a close-knit Dublin community.

When Noel learns that his terminally ill former flame is pregnant with his child, he agrees to take guardianship of the baby girl once she's born.  But as a single father battling demons of his own, Noel can't do it alone.

Fortunately, he has a competent, caring network of friend, family and neighbors:  Lisa, his unlucky-in-love classmate, who moves in with him to help him care for little Frankie around the clock; his American cousin, Emily, always there with a pep talk; the new retired Dr. Hat, with more time on his hands than he knows what to do with; Dr. Declan and Fiona and their baby son, Frankie's first friend; and many eager babysitters, including old friends Signor and Aidan and Frankie's doting granparents, Josie and Charles.

But not everyone is pleased with the unconventional arrangement, especially a nosy social worker, Moira, who is convinced that Frankie would be better off in a foster home.  Not it's up to Noel to persuade her that everyone in town has something special to offer when it comes to minding Frankie.

This book is another fun book by Ms. Binchy.  If you have read some of her older books, notably QUENTINS and SCARLET FEATHER, you'll recognize many of the characters.  It felt like old-home week, catching up on the lives of these people.

And of course, there were new characters to meet, some good times, some sad times.  Overall, a good story of people helping others and realizing that a family is often much more than a mother, a father, and a child.