Book review: Graham Norton’s novel will dominate the bestseller list for many months

'Frankie' is a triumph, popular fiction at its best, and is beautifully crafted and impeccably researched, taking the reader on a rollercoaster ride of emotional highs and lows

Graham Norton is unlikely to give up his TV role to become a full-time writer, but he can based on ‘Frankie’. Picture: Ellie Smith

• Frankie 
• Graham Norton 
• Coronet, €15.99 

Graham Norton is unlikely to want to give up his glitzy day job and become a full-time writer, but his fifth novel, Frankie, proves that if he wanted to, he could. 

The story is beautifully crafted and impeccably researched, taking the reader on a rollercoaster ride of emotional highs and lows. 

It also has flashes of dry wit and memorable turns of phrase, as you would expect from Norton.

It travels from contemporary London to 1950s Cork and on to New York City, particularly Greenwich Village and the flourishing contemporary art scene of the ‘60s and ‘70s, back to London in the ‘80s and ‘90s and the present day. 

Each era is convincingly evoked, rich in detail, and the prose is enlivened by some terrible jokes from Frankie’s lifelong friend, Nor.

It opens in the present day with the thoughts of Damian, a young Irishman living in London, working as a carer, looking after wealthy old people with large homes in west London. 

When a job comes up in east London, near Damian’s rented house-share, “Frances Howe, eighty-four. Lives alone. Broken ankle,” his manager offers it to him, adding “And she’s Irish so that’ll be nice for you.” 

This lumping together of Irish people, annoys Damian, reminding him of the way straight friends proudly announced the existence of their other gay friend.

 “You’ve got to meet him. You’ll love him.…He failed to see how any amount of Irishness would give him something in common with an incapacitated eighty-four-year-old woman.” 

The woman, Frankie, is described by her friend Nor as “cranky” since her fall. Nor is a more colourful character than Frankie, tall and stylish in a bohemian way and obviously wealthy. 

Damien rightly concludes that Nor, not Frankie, will be paying for his services.

It turns out that Frankie and Damian are from the same part of west Cork, and there is a growing rapport.

Then the scene changes to Ireland 1950, and 10-year-old Frances Howe’s unhappy life in Ballytoor. 

From a very young age she learns to mistrust happiness, and sure enough, after a highly enjoyable birthday party she comes home to discover that her parents have died in a car crash. 

Her subsequent misery is only made bearable by her friendship with Norah Deane, who shares her off-beat sense of humour.

After school, Frances takes a cookery course in Cork city and shows unusual talent. 

Norah comes to the rescue when 18-year-old Frances’s marriage to an older clergyman fails after she finds him in flagrante with a young parishioner. 

Norah’s mother arranges for her to join Norah in London, and “Frankie” is born.

Norah, now known as Nor, works for a theatrical empresario and socialises with a colourful set of lesbians, who make much of the new arrival, Frankie. 

She is given a job and whisked off to New York by her boss, Van.

 Nor warns her that Van can be capricious, and sure enough, Frankie falls out of favour and is dumped by the side of the road after a house party on the Hudson.

She has no money, nowhere to stay, and no return ticket.

She is rescued by her host’s chauffeur, Joe, and taken to the apartment in Greenwich Village that he shares with his sister Betty.

So begins a long and exciting phase of her life. She and Joe fall in love, and Betty introduces her to a local restaurant where she can work shifts. 

Her talent is recognised, and she is soon launched on a successful career as a chef and restaurateur.

Frankie is a triumph, popular fiction at its best, and will surely dominate the bestseller list for many months to come.