A funny, poignant and unforgettable novel about Frank - one of the most lovable and unusual characters you'll ever meet. For some boys fitting in means standing out Meet Frank - a modern nine-year-old boy with the wit of Noël Coward and the wardrobe of a 1930s movie star. Meet Mimi Banning - a reclusive literary legend and mother to Frank. Mimi has been holed up in her Bel Air mansion for years, keeping her secrets, hiding from the world. Until Alice. Meet Alice - a level-headed young woman who finds herself thrust into the Banning household, charged with looking after Mimi's unusual son. In so doing, Alice discovers a part of herself she never knew was missing. Full of heart and humour, Be Frank With Me is a captivating and unconventional story of an unusual mother and son, and the intrepid young woman who finds herself irresistibly pulled into their unforgettable world.
Johnson's magnificently poignant, funny, and wholly original debut goes beyond page-turner status. Readers will race to the next sentence. And the next. Her charming, flawed, quietly courageous characters, each wonderfully different, demand a second reading while we impatiently await the author's second work. Library Journal, starred review