Unfortunately, I’d probably be rating Minding Frankie 2 stars if it wasn’t for the focus on Muttie, Lizzie, Simon, and Maud; the raw emotions here (almost) made up for everything else going on.

The hardest part to overcome is Moira’s extreme prejudice against Noel despite all the evidence he is doing everything he can to provide for Frankie. No matter how many times he proves he’s an excellent father, Moira can’t see past her own history. Her personal attacks get more vicious and unfounded over time, to the point that her parts in the book made me uncomfortable. On top of this, I’m over Binchy’s need to have strong, intelligent women try to throw their lives away for pathetic men who don’t deserve them. With both Moira and Lisa being poor examples of strong female characters, I struggled to get through Minding Frankie.