Published February 1st, 2024 by Wildfire
Humorous Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Literary Fiction
Welcome to my review for the unmissable Frank and Red, which is February’s Squadpod Book Club pick. Join us on February 18th for a live chat with author Matt Coyne to discuss his outstanding debut. Thank you to Ollie at Wildfire for the proof copy of this book.
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SYNOPSIS:
Sometimes, the friend you need is the one you never saw coming.
‘Simply perfect’ Daily Mirror | ‘Hilariously funny… and beneath it all really quite lovely’ The Metro | Brilliant, just brilliant’ Huffington Post
Frank and Red are a mess.
Frank is a grumpy old curmudgeon. A recluse whose only company is the ‘ghost’ of his dead wife, Marcie. He is estranged from his friends, his son, and the ever-changing world beyond his front gate.
And then Red moves in next door.
Red is six. A boy struggling to adjust to the separation of his mum and dad, a new school, and the demonic school bully. Red is curious, smart, he never stops talking, and he’s got a trampoline.
From the moment Red’s blonde mop appears over the top of the fence that divides their two gardens, the unlikeliest of friendships is born.
. . . And it is a friendship that will change both of their lives forever.
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MY REVIEW:
Meet Frank and Red… a curmudgeonly old man with agoraphobia who lives with the ghost of his late wife and a friendly six-year-old boy with a very active imagination who strike up an unlikely friendship that starts over their shared garden fence. This is one of those books you know you’re going to love from the first page, capturing my heart and soul immediately and making me laugh out loud from the second page. A truly magnificent debut, it has gone straight onto my list of all-time favourite books.
Frank and Red is a book for everyone. No matter what genre you usually read and the kind of books you usually don’t bother with, I think you will love this book and its characters. Reading it feels like a warm hug, the gorgeous story enveloping you in its arms and making everything feel better for a time. This is Matt Coyne’s first fiction book and I’m an instant fan. It’s brilliantly written, Matt Coyne filling the pages with raw honesty, cracking comedy, heartfelt emotion, insightful social commentary, and an irresistible charm. It’s one of those books you both want to devour whole and want to savour because you never want it to end and I couldn’t stop thinking about it whenever I wasn’t reading.
What am I going to do without Frank and Red? It is impossible not to fall for these characters completely and they stole my heart from the first page. Achingly real, compelling and memorable, they come to life in vivid technicolour. Frank is a blunt, brash and bull-headed old bugger who has shut the world out ever since his wife Marcie’s death. He lives alone, apart from Marcie’s ghost, and is terrified to go beyond his front gate in case she isn’t there when he comes back. And then there’s Red, the adorable, outgoing and precocious little boy who moves in next door to Frank with his mum, Sarah, and turns Frank’s world upside down. This unlikely duo taught each other so much and I loved their friendship. It was an absolute joy to read and I’ve not stopped thinking about them since I finished the book.
One of my favourite things about this book is how Coyne doesn’t diminish children or their experiences. Instead Coyne highlights how very real and important their stresses and emotions are whatever their age. For example, Red is trying to come to terms with his parents’ divorce, moving home and school, trying to make new friends, bullying, and his dad’s new girlfriend and her annoying twins. Coyne perfectly balances Red’s childish innocence and honesty with the weights on his shoulders, reminding us of the importance of listening to our children when they tell us their problems rather than brushing them off as unimportant compared to adult worries.
Unmissable, and unforgettable, Frank and Red is a phenomenal debut that will lift your spirits and warm your heart. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮
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MEET THE AUTHOR:
Man vs Baby’s Matt Coyne is from Sheffield, South Yorkshire. In September 2015, Matt’s life was turned upside down by the arrival of his son Charlie. After three months of parenthood, he logged on to social media and wrote about his experience of having to live with ‘a furious, sleep-murdering, unstable and incontinent, breasts-obsessed midget lodger’. Within days, his post about surviving the first few months of parenthood was shared by millions all over the world.
Following this, Matt created his popular blog Man vs Baby, which now has over 370,000 followers on social media. And has written two Sunday Times bestselling books based on his parental triumphs and disasters, the first entitled: ‘Dummy’ and the second ‘Man vs Toddler’.
He has also written for The Guardian, The Telegraph and GQ Magazine and is the current Vuelio Parenting Influencer of the Year and Blogosphere Parent Influencer of the Year.
Matt lives in Sheffield with his son Charlie, his partner Lyndsay and a Jack Russell terrier with ‘issues’ called Eddie.
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BUY THE BOOK:
Waterstones* | Bookshop.org* | Amazon*
*These links are affiliate links
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Thanks for reading Bibliophiles xxxx
Emma's Biblio Treasures 