Team baby-care in Dublin

Binchy, Maeve. Minding Frankie. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.

Whenever I see a new Maeve Binchy book in the library, I jump on it like it's a life raft. Binchy has a knack for drawing the reader in to the lives of a huge number of characters in her Dublin world without overwhelming the brain or diluting the emotional connection to any individual one. I don't know how she does it.

In Minding Frankie, readers of previous books will recognize many of the characters and smile at the situations they get themselves into. There's a little bit of struggle and a few sad moments, but overall we can be assured of a heartwarming tale with a happy ending. Frankie is a newborn girl who transforms everyone around her as they band together in a "takes-a-village" approach to her care. Because she's a little baby, she doesn't get a lot of character development, but her minders certainly do, from the take-charge cousin from America (what would they have done without her?) to the recovering-alcoholic father to the unlucky-in-love graphic designer. Even the "villains" like the driven but lonely social worker and the self-centered chef aren't all bad.

It won't teach you a ton, and it's not a revolution in the art of novels, but Minding Frankie is a solidly enjoyable read that nobody would mind picking up.

Rating: ***