Unlikely friendship heals

FRANK & RED by Matt Coyne (Wildfire €21.75, 432pp)

ONE of those oddcouple novels; Frank’s a grumpy widower; Red the just-arrived six-year-old next door.

Red’s autism makes his new school a challenge while grief has alienated Frank from most things, including his own son.

Gradually, with the ghostly intercession of Marcie, Frank’s deceased wife, the young boy and old man become unlikely friends.

Coyne weaves, with warmth and humour, the story of Marcie and Frank’s marriage with Red’s misadventures at school. Things reach a dramatic conclusion when Red decides to mend Frank’s fractured relationships.

Themes of love, loss and family are beautifully explored in this heartwarming and imaginative debut.

LEAVING by Roxana Robinson (Magpie Books €24.65, 336pp)

SARAH and Warren, teenage sweethearts, married other people but regretted it. A chance meeting at the opera throws them together again and an affair begins. But when Warren wants to leave his wife, things turn ugly with his family and he’s forced to make an impossible choice.

Sarah’s daughter, meanwhile, suffers a health crisis that changes everything. The writing is beautiful; every sentence perfectly turned, and the settings are equally elegant; lots of upscale East Coast lifestyle detail. But behind the scenes it’s emotional chaos and we’re swept along to a tragic conclusion. Parenthood, divorce and the particular power of daughters are under the spotlight here.

THE ART OF BELONGING by Eleanor May (Piatkus €28, 352pp)

ALL the novels this week feature older people feeling redundant in their families’ lives.

Grace, another such, is a retired widow who used to work as a Concorde engineer. These days her skills go into building train sets at her seniors crafting club.

It’s lonely, but then her prickly daughter Amelia returns home after a breakup, bringing Grace’s offbeat teenage granddaughter Charlotte. Initially treading on eggshells, Grace grows to enjoy their presence, and becomes involved in Charlotte’s friendships and concern for a missing teacher.

A warm-hearted, emotional read that’s about new beginnings and coming to terms with the difficult past.