Stevie‘s review of Love Frankie by Jacqueline Wilson
Young Adult LGBT Romance published by Doubleday Childrens 17 Sep 20
I haven’t read a lot of Jacqueline Wilson’s vast output. I think I was already reading lesbian science fiction aimed at much older readers by the time her books began to be widely known. What I’ve read has always hit a chord, though. So when I heard she was writing LGBT+ romance, I knew that I had to try to get an advance copy. The book’s announcement was accompanied by Wilson’s rather low-key official coming out, giving this story additional levels of meaning, and it’s a great shame that its release has been delayed due to the ongoing pandemic, because a lot of isolated teens could do with reading it ’round about now.
Frankie is the middle of three sisters living with their mother, who is newly single and was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Frankie tries her best to care for her whole family, and for her dog, while also maintaining an appearance of normality at school, as well as with her best friend, boy-next-door Sam, who goes to a different school. Frankie’s mother’s condition has led to Frankie being the target of bullies, who believe her to be an alcoholic rather than ill – and Frankie is afraid to disclose the truth when her mother is yet to tell the head of the school she herself works for. When one of the bullies, Sally, reaches out to Frankie and discloses that her own home life is less than ideal, the two form an alliance, and Frankie starts to realise that she is attracted to Sally.
Sally’s parents are better off than Frankie’s and give her more freedom than either Frankie or Sam, and so the three end up having a series of misadventures over the parts of the Christmas holidays that they each spend at home. Frankie fears that Sally prefers Sam, or one of the popular boys at the school the girls go to, to herself, especially since Sally is a lot more outgoing and popular than Frankie. Meanwhile, Frankie’s older sister seems to be boy-mad and determined to get into all sorts of scrapes involving the local nightlife, leading to Frankie worrying that all this stress will affect their mother’s health.
I liked this book a lot, although I wish we’d seen more of the problems at home that Sally alludes to, rather than just giving us glimpses of a slightly problematic family who think everything can be solved with gifts and wild parties. The ending was a little ambiguous, but suited the characters perfectly. I’d love to revisit them all when they’ve had a few months more to grow into their lives.
Grade: B
Summary:
Frankie is nearly fourteen and teenage life certainly comes with its ups and downs. Her mum is seriously ill with MS and Frankie can feel herself growing up quickly, no thanks to Sally and her gang of bullies at school.
When Sally turns out to be not-so-mean after all, they strike up a friendship and are suddenly spending all of their time together.
But Frankie starts to wonder whether these feelings she has for Sally are stronger than her other friendships. Might she really be in love?
Frankie doesn’t want Sally to just be her friend. She wants her to be her girlfriend. But does Sally feel the same?
Listen to an excerpt.
