Monthly Bookclub

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Cathy Kelly and Maura Derrane

If you are joining in with the Four Live Monthly Bookclub then the book you should be reading at the moment is Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy.

Baby Frankie is born into an unusual family. Her mother is desperate to find someone to take care of her child and she doesn't have much time.

Noel doesn't seem to be the most promising of fathers but despite everything, he could well be Frankie's best hope.

As for Lisa, she is prepared to give up everything for the man she loves; surely he's going to love her back?

And Moira is having none of it. She knows what's right, and has the power to change the course of Frankie's life . . . but Moira is hiding secrets of her own.

Minding Frankie is a story about unconventional families, relationships which aren't quite what they seem, and the child at the heart of everyone's lives.

Cathy's Recommended reads for November

Taken by Niamh O'Connor - this crime thriller by an Irish crime journalist is every woman's worst nightmare - the kidnapping of a child. Taut and gripping.

Next To Love by Ellen Feldman - she wrote the Orange-prize-listed Scottsboro. This is a story of three American women's lives during World War Two, a familiar theme in this month's list as my next books is .

A Train in Winter by Caroline Moorehead - a non-fiction book about the only train in WW2 to carry French resistance women fighters to Auschwitz. The women on the train, ranging in age from fifteen to sixty eight, find solace in friendship in this terrifying time.

Jo Nesbo, Headhunters - fans of Nesbo's brilliant Snowman and The Leopard will enjoy this stand-alone novel (without the fabulous Harry Hole) about a man who leads a double life: as a businessman and then, as a criminal.

How The Light Gets In by Mary McEvoy - a wonderfully written memoir by one of Ireland's most beloved actresses, this encompasses Mary's struggle with the black dog of depression. Moving and uplifting.