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The Trouble with Sister Francis
10 hours
A heartwarming and hilarious new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of FRANK AND RED
Sister Francis is an unlikely nun.
She's sixty, sweary, drives like a lunatic and smokes like a stacked chimney . . . and she runs the Blessed Assumption Boys Club.
Richie, Bennett, Kenny and Stan are four best friends from the Whittle council estate with little to do but get up to no good. After a run-in with local bullies, they discover the crumbling, forgotten club and find themselves in the company of the most remarkable person they will ever meet.
Set against early 1980s Britain, The Trouble with Sister Francis is a funny, heartwarming, and heartbreaking story of unlikely heroes, quiet rebellions, fierce loyalty and unexpected hope.
And at the centre of it all lies a long-forgotten journal that might just change everything.
A heartwarming and hilarious new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of FRANK AND RED
Sister Francis is an unlikely nun.
She's sixty, sweary, drives like a lunatic and smokes like a stacked chimney . . . and she runs the Blessed Assumption Boys Club.
Richie, Bennett, Kenny and Stan are four best friends from the Whittle council estate with little to do but get up to no good. After a run-in with local bullies, they discover the crumbling, forgotten club and find themselves in the company of the most remarkable person they will ever meet.
Set against early 1980s Britain, The Trouble with Sister Francis is a funny, heartwarming, and heartbreaking story of unlikely heroes, quiet rebellions, fierce loyalty and unexpected hope.
And at the centre of it all lies a long-forgotten journal that might just change everything.
Audible Audio
Published August 28, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 166 reviews
August 27, 2026
OMG I ADORED THIS!
After reading Frank and Red by Matt Coyne and loving it, i couldn't wait to see what he wrote next.
This was even better than his debut.
It follows Rich and his friends as they join a 'Dead Man's Club' at the local church over the summer holidays. The club is ran by Sister Francis, who is certainly not your stereotypical nun!
What develops is nothing short of glorious. The backdrop of the club is a wonderful setting, but what really shines are the characters. I have howled laughing out loud at this book. The characters are struggling with aspects of their lives, and it is truly beautiful to see how their relationships together help them live through their troubles.
A glorious book, and the characters are sure to live in my head for some time.
After reading Frank and Red by Matt Coyne and loving it, i couldn't wait to see what he wrote next.
This was even better than his debut.
It follows Rich and his friends as they join a 'Dead Man's Club' at the local church over the summer holidays. The club is ran by Sister Francis, who is certainly not your stereotypical nun!
What develops is nothing short of glorious. The backdrop of the club is a wonderful setting, but what really shines are the characters. I have howled laughing out loud at this book. The characters are struggling with aspects of their lives, and it is truly beautiful to see how their relationships together help them live through their troubles.
A glorious book, and the characters are sure to live in my head for some time.
September 14, 2026
I honestly didn’t know if Matt Coyne could write another book I’d love as much as Frank and Red, which is one of my favourite books of all time. Of course, I was wrong. The Trouble with Sister Francis is brilliant. Properly, ridiculously brilliant. There’s so much warmth tucked into these pages, so much kindness and humanity, and so much humour. Coyne’s writing style really is so lovely and then it smacks you over the head with so many feels you don’t know whether to laugh, cry or both.
The book is set in the early 1980s and tells the story of 11-year-old Richie and his mates Kenny, Stan and Bennett, growing up on a South Yorkshire council estate. They meet Sister Francis, a minivan-driving, swearing, cigarette-smoking nun and her plan to resurrect a Boys’ Club at the local church. ‘’Bible stuff’’ sounds horrendous to the boys, but they get roped in anyway, and what follows is a summer of friendship, loyalty, belonging and growing up. Those boys absolutely stole my heart. Their banter, their ridiculousness, the way they look after one another, it all made my heart burst.
Coyne has captured something about childhood that I found incredibly special. That feeling of being young and having your friends and your adventures make up your entire universe. The setting is so vivid and lived-in it made me go back to my own childhood in some way (which was over a decade later, but still, the 90’s!). And the humour had that wonderfully dry Northern warmth running through it.
And then, inevitably, knowing his writing, Matt Coyne went and broke me. Because this is ultimately a story about love in all its forms: friendship, family, found family, kindness, sacrifice, and the people who can change your life simply by deciding to care. I sobbed my way through the final chapters, and somehow those tears felt like the perfect ending to a book that had made me feel so much. Sister F is truly iconic. All the stars, no notes!
And when Stan asked her if Hell was real she said, ’I don’t know, but if it is, Stanley, you’ll probably be there, standing about, asking daft questions.’
The book is set in the early 1980s and tells the story of 11-year-old Richie and his mates Kenny, Stan and Bennett, growing up on a South Yorkshire council estate. They meet Sister Francis, a minivan-driving, swearing, cigarette-smoking nun and her plan to resurrect a Boys’ Club at the local church. ‘’Bible stuff’’ sounds horrendous to the boys, but they get roped in anyway, and what follows is a summer of friendship, loyalty, belonging and growing up. Those boys absolutely stole my heart. Their banter, their ridiculousness, the way they look after one another, it all made my heart burst.
Coyne has captured something about childhood that I found incredibly special. That feeling of being young and having your friends and your adventures make up your entire universe. The setting is so vivid and lived-in it made me go back to my own childhood in some way (which was over a decade later, but still, the 90’s!). And the humour had that wonderfully dry Northern warmth running through it.
And then, inevitably, knowing his writing, Matt Coyne went and broke me. Because this is ultimately a story about love in all its forms: friendship, family, found family, kindness, sacrifice, and the people who can change your life simply by deciding to care. I sobbed my way through the final chapters, and somehow those tears felt like the perfect ending to a book that had made me feel so much. Sister F is truly iconic. All the stars, no notes!
And when Stan asked her if Hell was real she said, ’I don’t know, but if it is, Stanley, you’ll probably be there, standing about, asking daft questions.’
August 24, 2026
𝗠𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀
𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴; 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴. 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴; 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴; 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘴. 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘴; 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳; 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘺.
I adored this author's previous novel Frank and Red so I was beside myself with joy to read this. Matt Coyne has a style that I would describe as the following, here is a book that you will think is lovely and you will really enjoy it until it smacks you round the head with so many feels you won't know whether to laugh, cry or give away all your money and belongings to a good cause.
I haven't been so invested in a group of rag tag feral kids since The Goonies. This was set in my era of growing up when kids clubs and parks were heaven and hanging with your friends was outside getting into mischief.
Then we get to Sister Francis herself, she is like the quiet in the heart of a tornado. It all seems calm but you know stuff is about to go down and no doubt, according to Kenny anyway, there may be a flying cow involved somewhere.
This book has a dual timeline thanks to a mysterious journal found by Richie at The Dead Dads Club. I wondered how it would be connected as the entries interspersed throughout felt important but I promise all will become clear and when it does have tissues at hand.
This book is on an emotion scale that only dogs can hear. It is full of heart, humour, compassion, kindness and friendships never to be forgotten.
𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴; 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴. 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴; 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴; 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘴. 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘴; 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳; 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘺.
I adored this author's previous novel Frank and Red so I was beside myself with joy to read this. Matt Coyne has a style that I would describe as the following, here is a book that you will think is lovely and you will really enjoy it until it smacks you round the head with so many feels you won't know whether to laugh, cry or give away all your money and belongings to a good cause.
I haven't been so invested in a group of rag tag feral kids since The Goonies. This was set in my era of growing up when kids clubs and parks were heaven and hanging with your friends was outside getting into mischief.
Then we get to Sister Francis herself, she is like the quiet in the heart of a tornado. It all seems calm but you know stuff is about to go down and no doubt, according to Kenny anyway, there may be a flying cow involved somewhere.
This book has a dual timeline thanks to a mysterious journal found by Richie at The Dead Dads Club. I wondered how it would be connected as the entries interspersed throughout felt important but I promise all will become clear and when it does have tissues at hand.
This book is on an emotion scale that only dogs can hear. It is full of heart, humour, compassion, kindness and friendships never to be forgotten.
October 25, 2026
I was not sure if I could love a book more than Frank and Red but Sister Francis is right there with it. Brilliant!!
September 1, 2026
Who knew a chain-smoking nun and a bunch of rambunctious boys would be the thing to lift my spirits this month?
When I saw that Matt Coyne had a new book out, I was so excited because I absolutely adored Frank and Red. My library didn’t have it because it was too new, so I trusted my gut and went ahead and bought the audiobook. I just had a feeling it was going to be exactly what I needed.
I laughed out loud so many times listening to this. I don’t read many books about young boys because most of my reading tends to focus on the female experience, but I loved spending time with this group. They were funny, mildly foul-mouthed, occasionally ridiculous, and mostly very good kids just trying to figure things out.
Colin R. Campbell’s narration brought these characters to life in such a funny and endearing way.
This was laugh-out-loud funny, quirky, bittersweet, and full of heart without laying it on too thick. It gave me such a nice break from all the heaviness I’ve been reading, and I loved every minute of it.
Five stars, absolutely.
When I saw that Matt Coyne had a new book out, I was so excited because I absolutely adored Frank and Red. My library didn’t have it because it was too new, so I trusted my gut and went ahead and bought the audiobook. I just had a feeling it was going to be exactly what I needed.
I laughed out loud so many times listening to this. I don’t read many books about young boys because most of my reading tends to focus on the female experience, but I loved spending time with this group. They were funny, mildly foul-mouthed, occasionally ridiculous, and mostly very good kids just trying to figure things out.
Colin R. Campbell’s narration brought these characters to life in such a funny and endearing way.
This was laugh-out-loud funny, quirky, bittersweet, and full of heart without laying it on too thick. It gave me such a nice break from all the heaviness I’ve been reading, and I loved every minute of it.
Five stars, absolutely.
October 15, 2026
This was a another fantastic book from Matt Coyne who’s turning out to be a favourite author.
As the above synopsis states it’s set in the 1980s and follows a group of of four boys as they become the latest members of the Dead Dads Club, run by the infamous Sister Francis. The story is told by Richie the most sensible of the four, who also happens to be the only one with a dead dad.
I really liked Richie and enjoyed his recollection of that summer in the early 1980s, of how the boys got to know Sister Francis and her German Shepherd Bridget, and the clapped out old mini bus.
Before the boys club begins Richie and his friends Kenny, Bennett and Stanley are persuaded to help Sister F get the old clubhouse ready for the summer holiday. While Richie is her office tidying up old papers, he discovers a diary from World War Two, written by teenage evacuee Reggie, which he starts reading in secret.
I must admit when the diary entries were first introduced to the story I was a bit miffed as I just wanted to hear about Richie and his friends adventures. I began to appreciate the diary a whole lot more as the plot developed, and loved how the two timelines came together near the end.
The four boys were hilarious and Sister Francis is unlike any nun I’ve come across apart from in the Blues Brothers! 😂 There was lots to laugh out loud and reminisce about with all the different 1980s memories, the food and drink, sweets, clothes, bikes, films and TV series. I also got a little teary eyed on occasions when some big reveals came.
Colin R Campbell a new-to-me narrator, was great telling this story. His voice talents enabled him to portray all the different characters expertly.
Highly recommended if you’re looking for a feel good laugh out loud book set in the UK during the 1980s.
As the above synopsis states it’s set in the 1980s and follows a group of of four boys as they become the latest members of the Dead Dads Club, run by the infamous Sister Francis. The story is told by Richie the most sensible of the four, who also happens to be the only one with a dead dad.
I really liked Richie and enjoyed his recollection of that summer in the early 1980s, of how the boys got to know Sister Francis and her German Shepherd Bridget, and the clapped out old mini bus.
Before the boys club begins Richie and his friends Kenny, Bennett and Stanley are persuaded to help Sister F get the old clubhouse ready for the summer holiday. While Richie is her office tidying up old papers, he discovers a diary from World War Two, written by teenage evacuee Reggie, which he starts reading in secret.
I must admit when the diary entries were first introduced to the story I was a bit miffed as I just wanted to hear about Richie and his friends adventures. I began to appreciate the diary a whole lot more as the plot developed, and loved how the two timelines came together near the end.
The four boys were hilarious and Sister Francis is unlike any nun I’ve come across apart from in the Blues Brothers! 😂 There was lots to laugh out loud and reminisce about with all the different 1980s memories, the food and drink, sweets, clothes, bikes, films and TV series. I also got a little teary eyed on occasions when some big reveals came.
Colin R Campbell a new-to-me narrator, was great telling this story. His voice talents enabled him to portray all the different characters expertly.
Highly recommended if you’re looking for a feel good laugh out loud book set in the UK during the 1980s.
September 10, 2026
I just adored every second of this book. I've read a lot about its links to Stand By Me and I have to agree - it is the most beautiful, funny, gut wrenching coming-of-age story that will sit with me for a long time.
For me, all four of the boys were perfection - I fully belly laughed at everything Kenny said, we all have a friend like Bennet, Stan is the one we root for and Rich is the ideal, empathetic, kind protagonist.
Of course, Sister F steals the show. Her presentation embodies that vitally important person that forms all of us in our formative years...perhaps with a little more swearing and smoking.
This book made me laugh, cry and everything in between. Truly joyful.
For me, all four of the boys were perfection - I fully belly laughed at everything Kenny said, we all have a friend like Bennet, Stan is the one we root for and Rich is the ideal, empathetic, kind protagonist.
Of course, Sister F steals the show. Her presentation embodies that vitally important person that forms all of us in our formative years...perhaps with a little more swearing and smoking.
This book made me laugh, cry and everything in between. Truly joyful.
November 1, 2026
Een prachtig boek over vriendschap, solidariteit, loyaliteit en hoop. Het verhaal speelt zich af in de zomer van 1981 en vertelt onder andere, maar niet alleen, het verhaal van 4 jongens, tussen basisschool en middelbare school in. Een hartverwarmend boek. "We zijn niet de littekens die we dragen, maar de kracht die uit onze wonden is gegroeid".
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I’m tempted to give my first ever 6 stars. This book was just delightful. I’ve sobbed my way through the last 10%. Who knew man vs baby would be such a wonderful writer? This is heartwarming, life affirming, and just joyous. It’s a story of growing up, of friendship, and what’s important in life. It’s also completely NOT the kind of book I usually read so I’m eternally grateful to Netgalley for bringing it to me. Now I’m off to read Frank and Red.
September 20, 2026
Sister Francis is an unlikely nun. She's sixty, sweary, drives like a lunatic and smokes like a stacked chimney . . . and she runs the Blessed Assumption Boys Club. Richie, Bennett, Kenny and Stan are four best friends from the Whittle council estate with little to do but get up to no good. After a run-in with local bullies, they discover the crumbling, forgotten club and find themselves in the company of the most remarkable person they will ever meet.
Set against early 1980s Britain, The Trouble with Sister Francis is a funny, heartwarming, and heartbreaking story of unlikely heroes, quiet rebellions, fierce loyalty and unexpected hope. And at the centre of it all lies a long-forgotten journal that might just change everything.
A lovely story with my only criticism being a rather slow start. However once the characters of the boys start to take shape on the page it becomes engrossing and heart-warming with parts that brought tears to my eyes and parts that had me laughing out loud. The long-forgotten diary adds another dimension and brings home the harsh reality of the second world war and the isolation of some evacuees. There are very thoughtful passages and some beautiful conversations between Richard and the older priest and I really enjoyed the 'God' references which are a mixture of respect and total irreverence. This is a story of love and the deep bonds of childhood friendship and it will stay with me for a very long time.
Set against early 1980s Britain, The Trouble with Sister Francis is a funny, heartwarming, and heartbreaking story of unlikely heroes, quiet rebellions, fierce loyalty and unexpected hope. And at the centre of it all lies a long-forgotten journal that might just change everything.
A lovely story with my only criticism being a rather slow start. However once the characters of the boys start to take shape on the page it becomes engrossing and heart-warming with parts that brought tears to my eyes and parts that had me laughing out loud. The long-forgotten diary adds another dimension and brings home the harsh reality of the second world war and the isolation of some evacuees. There are very thoughtful passages and some beautiful conversations between Richard and the older priest and I really enjoyed the 'God' references which are a mixture of respect and total irreverence. This is a story of love and the deep bonds of childhood friendship and it will stay with me for a very long time.
October 3, 2026
OMG this book made me LOL so many times! And I never laugh out loud when I read. I’m so glad I listened to the audiobook because I’m sure part of this can be attributed to the delivery of the lines by the narrator Colin R Campbell.
The book has a dual timeline. The first is set during WWII (what is it with me and WWII books lately?!) where we are reading Reginald’s diary about being evacuated. The second timeline is early 1980s where we are following four young boys who end up involved in a church boys club, affectionately known as ‘The Dead Dads Club’. This was my favourite timeline out of the two. The boys dialogue and interactions were just hilarious and it was written so convincingly. The book had everything I look for in a book, a historical timeline, nostalgia, childhood friendships, sentimentality and a huge dose of humour. It reminded me a bit of ‘The List of Suspicious Things’ by Jennie Godfrey.
I am so glad I found this book as it is now one of my absolute all time favourites and I am immediately adding ‘Frank and Red’ to my TBR and Matt Coyne to my fav authors too!
Easy 5 stars
The book has a dual timeline. The first is set during WWII (what is it with me and WWII books lately?!) where we are reading Reginald’s diary about being evacuated. The second timeline is early 1980s where we are following four young boys who end up involved in a church boys club, affectionately known as ‘The Dead Dads Club’. This was my favourite timeline out of the two. The boys dialogue and interactions were just hilarious and it was written so convincingly. The book had everything I look for in a book, a historical timeline, nostalgia, childhood friendships, sentimentality and a huge dose of humour. It reminded me a bit of ‘The List of Suspicious Things’ by Jennie Godfrey.
I am so glad I found this book as it is now one of my absolute all time favourites and I am immediately adding ‘Frank and Red’ to my TBR and Matt Coyne to my fav authors too!
Easy 5 stars
July 29, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and Headline Books for the advance reader copy.
Sister Francis, or rather Sister F, is an unconventional nun. She smokes like a chimney, drives a beaten-up minibus and is the champion of the underdog. Sister F isn’t afraid to speak her mind.
The story is set in the early 1980s and is told through the experiences of four 11-year-old boys: Richie, Kenny, Stan and Bennett. Alongside this is a subplot told through a historical diary written by Reggie. Although it’s not immediately obvious, the two storylines are linked.
We follow the boys through the summer as they renovate and attend a local boys’ club. Through their experiences and voices, we see the depth of their friendship, their loyalty to each other and their affection for Sister F.
This is a heartwarming story that had me laughing out loud one moment and shedding a tear the next. The four boys and Sister F draw you in, making you genuinely want to spend time with them.
I now need to go and read Frank and Red!
Sister Francis, or rather Sister F, is an unconventional nun. She smokes like a chimney, drives a beaten-up minibus and is the champion of the underdog. Sister F isn’t afraid to speak her mind.
The story is set in the early 1980s and is told through the experiences of four 11-year-old boys: Richie, Kenny, Stan and Bennett. Alongside this is a subplot told through a historical diary written by Reggie. Although it’s not immediately obvious, the two storylines are linked.
We follow the boys through the summer as they renovate and attend a local boys’ club. Through their experiences and voices, we see the depth of their friendship, their loyalty to each other and their affection for Sister F.
This is a heartwarming story that had me laughing out loud one moment and shedding a tear the next. The four boys and Sister F draw you in, making you genuinely want to spend time with them.
I now need to go and read Frank and Red!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I went into The Trouble With Sister Francis knowing very little, other than the knowledge that some of my friends had absolutely loved it. Now I’ve read it, it’s easy to see why: not only is it steeped in emotion from beginning to end, it’s also one of the funniest books I’ve had the pleasure of reading. Matt Coyne’s prose is effortless and unforgettable; it’s genuine, humorous and steeped in Northern English charm that comes through on every page.
The world he’s created – one that takes us back to the 1980s – is one you’ll wholeheartedly become a part of, with your own nostalgia and childhood memories mixing into the trials and tribulations of the main characters here.
Largely taking place over the course of one summer, The Trouble With Sister Francis follows primary-school aged Richie, Bennett, Kenny and Stan. Growing up on a Yorkshire housing estate, their days are spent running from bullies, hanging out on the local park and plotting how to make a few pence. That is, until they encounter Sister Francis and her plan to resurrect a Boys’ Club at the local church.
‘Bible stuff’ does not appeal to any of the boys, but they go along anyway – and what they end up finding is a summer that changes their lives in one way or another. A coming-of-age story about dealing with adversity, friendship, family and finding your tribe, there’s absolutely so much to love here.
Coyne has recreated an era so beautifully that, honestly, it’s hard to fathom Richie and his friends don’t exist beyond the pages of this book. With a secondary narrative thread dating back to the Second World War, too, it’s a story rich with history, and the level of detail and care within these pages is second to none.
This is the type of book that, instantly, you know is something special, and I will be thinking about it for months, if not years, to come. Thank you, Matt, for writing something so profoundly brilliant. My only complaint is that it had to come to an end! I’ll hold those boys, and Sister Francis, close to my heart for a long time.
The world he’s created – one that takes us back to the 1980s – is one you’ll wholeheartedly become a part of, with your own nostalgia and childhood memories mixing into the trials and tribulations of the main characters here.
Largely taking place over the course of one summer, The Trouble With Sister Francis follows primary-school aged Richie, Bennett, Kenny and Stan. Growing up on a Yorkshire housing estate, their days are spent running from bullies, hanging out on the local park and plotting how to make a few pence. That is, until they encounter Sister Francis and her plan to resurrect a Boys’ Club at the local church.
‘Bible stuff’ does not appeal to any of the boys, but they go along anyway – and what they end up finding is a summer that changes their lives in one way or another. A coming-of-age story about dealing with adversity, friendship, family and finding your tribe, there’s absolutely so much to love here.
Coyne has recreated an era so beautifully that, honestly, it’s hard to fathom Richie and his friends don’t exist beyond the pages of this book. With a secondary narrative thread dating back to the Second World War, too, it’s a story rich with history, and the level of detail and care within these pages is second to none.
This is the type of book that, instantly, you know is something special, and I will be thinking about it for months, if not years, to come. Thank you, Matt, for writing something so profoundly brilliant. My only complaint is that it had to come to an end! I’ll hold those boys, and Sister Francis, close to my heart for a long time.
August 27, 2026
This was such a funny, heartwarming and surprisingly emotional read. Sister Francis is an absolutely brilliant character, with her sweary attitude, questionable driving and larger-than-life personality making her impossible not to love.
The friendship between the four boys is just as wonderful, with plenty of mischief, loyalty and moments that really tugged at my heart.
Set against 1980s Britain, the story captures a real sense of community and the power of finding people who believe in you.
Funny, touching and full of unforgettable characters, this is a story about friendship, hope and the unlikely people who can make the biggest difference.
The friendship between the four boys is just as wonderful, with plenty of mischief, loyalty and moments that really tugged at my heart.
Set against 1980s Britain, the story captures a real sense of community and the power of finding people who believe in you.
Funny, touching and full of unforgettable characters, this is a story about friendship, hope and the unlikely people who can make the biggest difference.
July 26, 2026
What a wonderful & heartwarming read. Matt Coyne has done it again & managed to bring all humanity together into one wonderful story. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed or cried so much over one book. I’d love to meet this author- he must have the best sense of humour!
As a child of the 80’s myself this was full of nostalgic references & the characters were so very real they literally jumped off the page. A beautifully written and crafted book- the fact he wrote it long hand whilst very poorly makes it even more impressive.
Many thanks to Net Galley & Headline for the ARC.
As a child of the 80’s myself this was full of nostalgic references & the characters were so very real they literally jumped off the page. A beautifully written and crafted book- the fact he wrote it long hand whilst very poorly makes it even more impressive.
Many thanks to Net Galley & Headline for the ARC.
October 4, 2026
Frank and Red was really good, but this offering from Matt Coyne was REALLY REALLY REALLY GOOD!!! A wonderful heart-warming story filled with more than a few precious moments throughout the narrative. I wouldn't be surprised if there was an offer to make this novel into a movie.
September 26, 2026
4.5⭐️ leveled up for the lovely ending.
September 4, 2026
Funny; beautiful; poignant. An absolute must read. Loved every bit and didn’t want it to end!
October 13, 2026
Simply wonderful!
September 10, 2026
It’s 1981 and in Sheffield 11 year old Richie is living on a large housing estate with his best mates Bennett, Kenny and Stan. Disillusioned and bored, with not much direction in their young lives, they get into lots of scrapes until the day they discover a dilapidated hut where once a thriving boys’ club was held and where they meet the eccentric but extraordinary nun, Sister Francis.
My thoughts:
This was another tour de force from Matt Coyne, after loving his brilliant fiction debut, Frank and Red.
Full of heart, this engaging, emotional and at times, laugh out loud book was a joy to read. I found the story both relatable and nostalgic for a very different time where kids just got on their bikes and weren’t expected to come home until tea time and I experienced a range a range of emotions reading this brilliant book as I found it both heartwarming and heartbreaking.
Split between two timelines, this first person narrative moved between Richie’s story in the 1980’s and Reggie’s in the late 1930’s/early 1940’s and I enjoyed and was invested in both of their stories equally.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the 425 pages flew by. Towards the end, I really struggled to put this book down as I was so intrigued to discover the outcome and I was kept up late reading.
If you enjoyed Frank and Red, then you’ll definitely love this new book.
My thoughts:
This was another tour de force from Matt Coyne, after loving his brilliant fiction debut, Frank and Red.
Full of heart, this engaging, emotional and at times, laugh out loud book was a joy to read. I found the story both relatable and nostalgic for a very different time where kids just got on their bikes and weren’t expected to come home until tea time and I experienced a range a range of emotions reading this brilliant book as I found it both heartwarming and heartbreaking.
Split between two timelines, this first person narrative moved between Richie’s story in the 1980’s and Reggie’s in the late 1930’s/early 1940’s and I enjoyed and was invested in both of their stories equally.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the 425 pages flew by. Towards the end, I really struggled to put this book down as I was so intrigued to discover the outcome and I was kept up late reading.
If you enjoyed Frank and Red, then you’ll definitely love this new book.
October 30, 2026
This was a joy to read and it’s as good as Frank and Red the authors previous book both heartwarming and uplifting
June 11, 2026
⭐️ 5 ⭐️
In 2024, I read and adored Frank and Red by Matt Coyne, so I was overjoyed to get my hands on a copy of his newest book, The Trouble with Sister Francis.
The story is set in South Yorkshire in the early 1980s and told through chapters narrated by Richie, alongside a thread of journal entries written by Reginald R. Hartfield from 1938 to 1941.
Eleven-year-old Richie and his three best mates (Kenny, Bennett and Stanley) live on the Whittle council estate in Sheffield, and it’s here where they meet Sister Francis, who runs the Blessed Assumption Boys Club. Kenny is a gobby, rough diamond and lovable rogue. Bennett (Benny) owns a purple Raleigh Chopper but can’t ride a bike, so he pushes it everywhere, and Stan is a slightly wimpy but extremely kind-hearted kid who runs everywhere.
Matt has captured the sense of time and place perfectly, with detailed descriptions that transported me nostalgically back to the 80s and characters so fully fleshed they jumped from the page. I loved Sister F and Reggie with his journal entries, but it was the four lovely, likeable lads (especially Kenny and Richie) with their larger-than-life personalities, believable dialogue, boyish banter and fierce loyalty to one another that were the stars of the show for me.
Matt Coyne has a fantastic, dry sense of humour, and it’s the thread of witty (sometimes hilarious, laugh-out-loud) humour woven throughout the book that brings the fabric of the story to life. It’s beautifully written and flawlessly captures the magic and innocence of childhood.
It’s an uplifting, heartwarming story with love, found family, friendship and belonging at its heart. It brought a massive grin to my face and tears to my eyes. I absolutely loved it, and it thoroughly deserves a place in my top reads of 2026.
I can’t recommend it (and Frank and Red) highly enough. All the stars, no notes.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
In 2024, I read and adored Frank and Red by Matt Coyne, so I was overjoyed to get my hands on a copy of his newest book, The Trouble with Sister Francis.
The story is set in South Yorkshire in the early 1980s and told through chapters narrated by Richie, alongside a thread of journal entries written by Reginald R. Hartfield from 1938 to 1941.
Eleven-year-old Richie and his three best mates (Kenny, Bennett and Stanley) live on the Whittle council estate in Sheffield, and it’s here where they meet Sister Francis, who runs the Blessed Assumption Boys Club. Kenny is a gobby, rough diamond and lovable rogue. Bennett (Benny) owns a purple Raleigh Chopper but can’t ride a bike, so he pushes it everywhere, and Stan is a slightly wimpy but extremely kind-hearted kid who runs everywhere.
Matt has captured the sense of time and place perfectly, with detailed descriptions that transported me nostalgically back to the 80s and characters so fully fleshed they jumped from the page. I loved Sister F and Reggie with his journal entries, but it was the four lovely, likeable lads (especially Kenny and Richie) with their larger-than-life personalities, believable dialogue, boyish banter and fierce loyalty to one another that were the stars of the show for me.
Matt Coyne has a fantastic, dry sense of humour, and it’s the thread of witty (sometimes hilarious, laugh-out-loud) humour woven throughout the book that brings the fabric of the story to life. It’s beautifully written and flawlessly captures the magic and innocence of childhood.
It’s an uplifting, heartwarming story with love, found family, friendship and belonging at its heart. It brought a massive grin to my face and tears to my eyes. I absolutely loved it, and it thoroughly deserves a place in my top reads of 2026.
I can’t recommend it (and Frank and Red) highly enough. All the stars, no notes.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Richie, Bennett, Kenny and Stan, four best friends from the Whittle council estate, are looking forward to the long heady days of summer, even if there is not much for them to do around here. When their usual hang-out becomes a no go area, due to an altercation with the local bullies, they decide to see what the re-opened Blessed Assumption Boys Club, run by the very unconventional nun Sister Francis, might have to offer them.
Unconvinced that the crumbling club building, and its sixty-year-old, heavily smoking, very sweary custodian, is the solution they are looking for, they agree to help get the dilapidated building ship-shape - on the promise they will be able to use it over the holidays without paying the expected daily subscription. They set to work, and in the process find a place, and a person, that will change their lives for ever.
With lashings of heart-warming loveliness, The Trouble with Sister Francis, Matt Coyne's follow-up novel to the fabulous Frank and Red, is a joy from start to finish.
The story follows the adventures of four lads from a northern council estate, who fall in with the very unholy Sister Francis when the meagre rewards from a dubious scheme make them the target for local heavies. The book unfurls in two beautifully wielded timelines, switching back and forth between the present in early 1980's Britain, and the past through a diary Ritchie finds hidden amongst the debris at the club - which reveals the experiences of one Reggie Hartfeld, who was evacuated to Whittle during the Second World War, and who was part of the original cohort of the Blessed Assumption Boys Club (aka The Dead Dad's Club).
I cannot even begin to describe how much I loved this book, totally invested in the lives of the four boys, set against the richly described, and incredibly nostalgic background of 1981, as they face a number of coming-of-age challenges together - and realise that Sister Francis hides a heart of gold beneath her sombre nun's habit, and a wealth of pain in connection with the past. In parallel, Reggie's diary transports you back to 1940's Britain on the home front, through the eyes of a young man on the brink of adulthood - and impressively introduces oodles of historical detail in the process.
Golden moments of friendship, found family, quiet resistance, love, loss, true kindness in unexpected places, and standing up for what you believe abound, bleeding into a hilarious caper-meets-heartrending love-story. Matt's writing is as engaging, witty, heartfelt, and utterly compelling, keeping you turning the pages, and I felt all the emotions as the storylines collided, when Ritchie realises exactly what Reggie's diary reveals.
This is a book that captures you heart and soul. There is an impressive complexity here that belies the simplicity of Frank and Red's unconventional buddy story, even though I adored Matt's debut. The way he echoes his themes through the timelines is wonderful, and the bond that ties the members of The Dead Dad's Club together across time is beautifully portrayed. There were moments when I hardly read the words as I sobbed uncontrollably in the final swathes of the novel, and I turned the final page knowing I will always carry these characters in my heart.
If that was not enough to convince you that this is a must-read, Matt's notion that while you can never go back to the past, you can peep at it through a keyhole, and carry what you have learned through the doors of the future, is mind-blowingly delicious.
A triumph, and a front-runner for my book of the year!
Unconvinced that the crumbling club building, and its sixty-year-old, heavily smoking, very sweary custodian, is the solution they are looking for, they agree to help get the dilapidated building ship-shape - on the promise they will be able to use it over the holidays without paying the expected daily subscription. They set to work, and in the process find a place, and a person, that will change their lives for ever.
With lashings of heart-warming loveliness, The Trouble with Sister Francis, Matt Coyne's follow-up novel to the fabulous Frank and Red, is a joy from start to finish.
The story follows the adventures of four lads from a northern council estate, who fall in with the very unholy Sister Francis when the meagre rewards from a dubious scheme make them the target for local heavies. The book unfurls in two beautifully wielded timelines, switching back and forth between the present in early 1980's Britain, and the past through a diary Ritchie finds hidden amongst the debris at the club - which reveals the experiences of one Reggie Hartfeld, who was evacuated to Whittle during the Second World War, and who was part of the original cohort of the Blessed Assumption Boys Club (aka The Dead Dad's Club).
I cannot even begin to describe how much I loved this book, totally invested in the lives of the four boys, set against the richly described, and incredibly nostalgic background of 1981, as they face a number of coming-of-age challenges together - and realise that Sister Francis hides a heart of gold beneath her sombre nun's habit, and a wealth of pain in connection with the past. In parallel, Reggie's diary transports you back to 1940's Britain on the home front, through the eyes of a young man on the brink of adulthood - and impressively introduces oodles of historical detail in the process.
Golden moments of friendship, found family, quiet resistance, love, loss, true kindness in unexpected places, and standing up for what you believe abound, bleeding into a hilarious caper-meets-heartrending love-story. Matt's writing is as engaging, witty, heartfelt, and utterly compelling, keeping you turning the pages, and I felt all the emotions as the storylines collided, when Ritchie realises exactly what Reggie's diary reveals.
This is a book that captures you heart and soul. There is an impressive complexity here that belies the simplicity of Frank and Red's unconventional buddy story, even though I adored Matt's debut. The way he echoes his themes through the timelines is wonderful, and the bond that ties the members of The Dead Dad's Club together across time is beautifully portrayed. There were moments when I hardly read the words as I sobbed uncontrollably in the final swathes of the novel, and I turned the final page knowing I will always carry these characters in my heart.
If that was not enough to convince you that this is a must-read, Matt's notion that while you can never go back to the past, you can peep at it through a keyhole, and carry what you have learned through the doors of the future, is mind-blowingly delicious.
A triumph, and a front-runner for my book of the year!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
In the early 1980s, young lads Richie, Bennett, Kenny and Stan encounter Sister Francis.
I confess that having so utterly adored Matt Coyne’s first novel Frank & Red, I was apprehensive about The Trouble with Sister Francis. What if it didn’t live up to my expectations? It didn’t. It exceeded them! I completely adored this book too. I’m going to struggle to review it because I don’t want to give anything away and really just want to say ‘Buy the book because it’s brilliant…’
The 1980s setting is superb. The sweets, the music, the clothing, the vocabulary used by the lads attending the local church club, all of them combine into the most vivid sense of time. So too does the thread of The Journal of Reginald R. Hartfeld 1938-1941 [Abridged] which presents the life of an evacuee and gives an insight into the war years.
It is the bringing together of these two eras that is so compelling. As Rich, Kenny, Bennet and Stan find themselves drawn into Sister Francis’s orbit, the two time frames support some of the major themes of Matt Coyne’s story. He explores societal convention, a sense of duty and responsibility, and all manner of weighty concepts with the lightest of touches so that the reader fails to recognise the impact and importance of his story until it hits them hard in the solar plexus. However, the most profound aspects are the themes of friendship, belonging and home. Matt Coyne’s ability to convey meaning as well as entertainment is remarkable. Through fantastic humour – and I literally laughed until I cried, and couldn’t breathe, on more than one occasion – and heart-rending emotion – I wept inconsolably too – Matt Coyne entertains, educates and completely blindsides his readers. Truthfully, The Trouble with Sister Francis is one of my all time favourite reads.
And what a person Sister Francis is. Her unconventional feisty nature, her quietly ironclad control and her hidden softness make her simply wonderful. She might be a nun, but she’s a rule breaker unafraid to turn a blind eye when necessary and so uncompromising on occasion that grown men quake in their boots when she has them in her sights. Reading about Sister Francis made me laugh and cry, but it also made me cheer aloud and fist bump the air even as she made me reflect on true humanity, compassion and empathy. Reading about Sister Francis does not leave the reader unchanged or emotionally unscathed. I’ll be thinking about her for a very long time.
The characters are actually all stunning. Except for Father Sheridan and a couple of others whom I would quite cheerfully throttle, I think of them with such affection and fondness that it’s hard to grasp that they are not real people. It is impossible not to have your heart broken by Kenny. He put me in mind of so many of the underprivileged youngsters I taught in the past, as did all the boys, because Matt Coyne’s portrayal is so realistic. I thought Rick’s narrative voice was amazing. The story is presented through his adult lens and yet he loses nothing of his childhood perspective, making him all the more unforgettable and affecting.
I know I’ve been somewhat vague in this review, but I cannot express emphatically enough how much I loved The Trouble with Sister Francis. Matt Coyne has created the most exquisite narrative. It’s hilariously funny. It’s realistic. It’s emotionally charged. It’s written with beautiful human understanding. The Trouble with Sister Francis is sheer perfection and I pity those who don’t get the chance to read it. Fantastic!
I confess that having so utterly adored Matt Coyne’s first novel Frank & Red, I was apprehensive about The Trouble with Sister Francis. What if it didn’t live up to my expectations? It didn’t. It exceeded them! I completely adored this book too. I’m going to struggle to review it because I don’t want to give anything away and really just want to say ‘Buy the book because it’s brilliant…’
The 1980s setting is superb. The sweets, the music, the clothing, the vocabulary used by the lads attending the local church club, all of them combine into the most vivid sense of time. So too does the thread of The Journal of Reginald R. Hartfeld 1938-1941 [Abridged] which presents the life of an evacuee and gives an insight into the war years.
It is the bringing together of these two eras that is so compelling. As Rich, Kenny, Bennet and Stan find themselves drawn into Sister Francis’s orbit, the two time frames support some of the major themes of Matt Coyne’s story. He explores societal convention, a sense of duty and responsibility, and all manner of weighty concepts with the lightest of touches so that the reader fails to recognise the impact and importance of his story until it hits them hard in the solar plexus. However, the most profound aspects are the themes of friendship, belonging and home. Matt Coyne’s ability to convey meaning as well as entertainment is remarkable. Through fantastic humour – and I literally laughed until I cried, and couldn’t breathe, on more than one occasion – and heart-rending emotion – I wept inconsolably too – Matt Coyne entertains, educates and completely blindsides his readers. Truthfully, The Trouble with Sister Francis is one of my all time favourite reads.
And what a person Sister Francis is. Her unconventional feisty nature, her quietly ironclad control and her hidden softness make her simply wonderful. She might be a nun, but she’s a rule breaker unafraid to turn a blind eye when necessary and so uncompromising on occasion that grown men quake in their boots when she has them in her sights. Reading about Sister Francis made me laugh and cry, but it also made me cheer aloud and fist bump the air even as she made me reflect on true humanity, compassion and empathy. Reading about Sister Francis does not leave the reader unchanged or emotionally unscathed. I’ll be thinking about her for a very long time.
The characters are actually all stunning. Except for Father Sheridan and a couple of others whom I would quite cheerfully throttle, I think of them with such affection and fondness that it’s hard to grasp that they are not real people. It is impossible not to have your heart broken by Kenny. He put me in mind of so many of the underprivileged youngsters I taught in the past, as did all the boys, because Matt Coyne’s portrayal is so realistic. I thought Rick’s narrative voice was amazing. The story is presented through his adult lens and yet he loses nothing of his childhood perspective, making him all the more unforgettable and affecting.
I know I’ve been somewhat vague in this review, but I cannot express emphatically enough how much I loved The Trouble with Sister Francis. Matt Coyne has created the most exquisite narrative. It’s hilariously funny. It’s realistic. It’s emotionally charged. It’s written with beautiful human understanding. The Trouble with Sister Francis is sheer perfection and I pity those who don’t get the chance to read it. Fantastic!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Matt Coyne has done it again! I adored his debut novel Frank and Red (and I adored The Trouble With Sister Francis too.
Sister Francis is not your typical, sweet nun. As one of the boys who attends the Blessed Assumption Boys Club says, you couldn’t imagine her joyously spinning in the Swiss mountains! She smokes like a chimney, drives a battered old van, swears like a trooper and doesn’t really seem that religious. For much of the early part of the book, she’s kind of a background character. She’s there, but it’s the boys who are important.
I could happily have spent more time in the company of these lads. Richie, Bennett, Kenny and Stan are four best friends from a council estate who don’t always have the easiest of lives and find themselves members of the boys club which Sister Francis is restarting. It’s obviously really important to her although we don’t know why for quite some time. She has a lot of patience with the boys and seems to bring out the best in them. As the only four members of the club for quite some time, as well as Bible Study and singing the club song each morning (Lord of all Hopefulness – none of them are very tuneful), they set about cleaning and tidying the old club building.
It was so touching to read about the boys’ friendship. Much of the story is narrated by Richie, looking back on his time in the Club. He talks about how spending time with his friends was the best thing. “There’s an old saying about true friendships being forged in fire but I don’t think that’s true. Real friendships are cast in the everyday, enjoying the company of others when there is little more between you than a pack of cards with two jacks and a three missing. That’s real friendship.”.
Richie finds an old journal while he is tidying and discovers it’s the journal of an evacuee. Reggie, who lived with a local family having been evacuated from London at the start of the Second World War. We get to read this journal in entries scattered throughout the story and I became very invested in Reggie’s story. I was intrigued to see just how his story was going to fit in and let’s just say that when it it became clear, I gasped out loud and there may have been something in my eye.
There are many other characters who deserve a mention and I have to say I had a soft spot for Richie’s Grandad Bob. He was a kind man who had a lot of time for his grandson. My own dad was Grandad Bob to my girls so that’s who I was envisaging as I read about him. Father Callan was also a great character. He was a very elderly priest who was kind and compassionate. He had a deep understanding of human nature and a forgiving attitude.
Being set in mostly the early 1980s, this was a very nostalgic read for me. I reckon I was the same age as the boys in the book at the time it’s set so I really enjoyed all the cultural references.
I realise that this review is rather long and that’s a reflection of how much I loved this book. There is a hint that we might here more about Sister Francis and the boys in her club and I am absolutely here for that. The Trouble with Sister Francis is another superb read from Matt Coyne. I laughed, I cried, I cheered. Hooray for Sister Francis and ‘her boys’! One of my favourite reads this year.
Sister Francis is not your typical, sweet nun. As one of the boys who attends the Blessed Assumption Boys Club says, you couldn’t imagine her joyously spinning in the Swiss mountains! She smokes like a chimney, drives a battered old van, swears like a trooper and doesn’t really seem that religious. For much of the early part of the book, she’s kind of a background character. She’s there, but it’s the boys who are important.
I could happily have spent more time in the company of these lads. Richie, Bennett, Kenny and Stan are four best friends from a council estate who don’t always have the easiest of lives and find themselves members of the boys club which Sister Francis is restarting. It’s obviously really important to her although we don’t know why for quite some time. She has a lot of patience with the boys and seems to bring out the best in them. As the only four members of the club for quite some time, as well as Bible Study and singing the club song each morning (Lord of all Hopefulness – none of them are very tuneful), they set about cleaning and tidying the old club building.
It was so touching to read about the boys’ friendship. Much of the story is narrated by Richie, looking back on his time in the Club. He talks about how spending time with his friends was the best thing. “There’s an old saying about true friendships being forged in fire but I don’t think that’s true. Real friendships are cast in the everyday, enjoying the company of others when there is little more between you than a pack of cards with two jacks and a three missing. That’s real friendship.”.
Richie finds an old journal while he is tidying and discovers it’s the journal of an evacuee. Reggie, who lived with a local family having been evacuated from London at the start of the Second World War. We get to read this journal in entries scattered throughout the story and I became very invested in Reggie’s story. I was intrigued to see just how his story was going to fit in and let’s just say that when it it became clear, I gasped out loud and there may have been something in my eye.
There are many other characters who deserve a mention and I have to say I had a soft spot for Richie’s Grandad Bob. He was a kind man who had a lot of time for his grandson. My own dad was Grandad Bob to my girls so that’s who I was envisaging as I read about him. Father Callan was also a great character. He was a very elderly priest who was kind and compassionate. He had a deep understanding of human nature and a forgiving attitude.
Being set in mostly the early 1980s, this was a very nostalgic read for me. I reckon I was the same age as the boys in the book at the time it’s set so I really enjoyed all the cultural references.
I realise that this review is rather long and that’s a reflection of how much I loved this book. There is a hint that we might here more about Sister Francis and the boys in her club and I am absolutely here for that. The Trouble with Sister Francis is another superb read from Matt Coyne. I laughed, I cried, I cheered. Hooray for Sister Francis and ‘her boys’! One of my favourite reads this year.
October 6, 2026
There are some books you just know you are going to love before you’ve even started reading. The Trouble with Sister Francis is one of those books. Matt Coyne’s debut, Frank and Red, was my favourite book of 2024 and I’ve been eagerly awaiting his sophomore offering ever since. So when I learned it would be the SquadPod Book Club pick for August, I was thrilled. But when I received the book I didn’t want to pick it up, because I knew once I did I knew I’d never want it to end.
Sister Francis is not your usual nun. She’s sixty, sweary, chain-smokes, reads the racing post and drives like a lunatic. But she also has a heart of gold and cares deeply about young people. Rich is a normal boy from a council estate in Sheffield. He lives with his mum and grandad and spends his free time hanging out with his mates Bennett, Stanley and Kenny at the local park or getting up to no good. When the group have a run-in with the local bullies, Rich’s mum gives him an ultimatum: Boy’s Club or spending the summer with his Auntie Carole. He chooses the Boy's Club and takes his friends along with him to the dilapidated clubhouse. What follows is a heartwarming, hilarious and hopeful story that is impossible to put down.
This is a story that will break your heart and make it whole again, wrapping around you like a warm hug and splitting your sides with laughter. A story about friendship, loyalty, community and unlikely heroes, the book is filled with wonderful characters I absolutely adored. Sister Francis is now one of my favourite heroines and it was impossible not to have a soft spot for Rich, Bennet, Kenny and Stanley. One of my favourite things about this book is the portrayal of friendship, especially between these four young lads. I loved seeing how they were there for each other and the loyalty they had for each other.
Overflowing in northern charm and 80s nostalgia, this book felt like home and transported me back to my own childhood at that time on a council estate in Sheffield. Matt has captured the era so perfectly; that time when summer meant hanging out with friends and the days felt endless. There is also a past timeline which is told through extracts from a journal written by a teenage boy from 1938-41 Reginald was one of the attendees of the original Boy’s Club (or The Dead Dad’s Club as it was then known). I loved these extracts. Matt expertly captures the vibe of an angst-filled teenager and all of the dilemmas that come at that stage of life whilst combining them with the brutal realities of war.
One of the core themes of this book is that it is a story about the unfortunates; those people who are struggling in life. For example, Reginald is an evacuee, Rich lost his father when he was just six, and all of his friends have problems at home of some kind. It is even evident in the Boy’s Club, which was formed during World War II for the boys whose fathers were away and sometimes didn’t come home. And once again we see how friendship and community can help, offering us hope and restoring our faith in people.
Warm, witty and absolutely wonderful, I highly recommend this book.
Sister Francis is not your usual nun. She’s sixty, sweary, chain-smokes, reads the racing post and drives like a lunatic. But she also has a heart of gold and cares deeply about young people. Rich is a normal boy from a council estate in Sheffield. He lives with his mum and grandad and spends his free time hanging out with his mates Bennett, Stanley and Kenny at the local park or getting up to no good. When the group have a run-in with the local bullies, Rich’s mum gives him an ultimatum: Boy’s Club or spending the summer with his Auntie Carole. He chooses the Boy's Club and takes his friends along with him to the dilapidated clubhouse. What follows is a heartwarming, hilarious and hopeful story that is impossible to put down.
This is a story that will break your heart and make it whole again, wrapping around you like a warm hug and splitting your sides with laughter. A story about friendship, loyalty, community and unlikely heroes, the book is filled with wonderful characters I absolutely adored. Sister Francis is now one of my favourite heroines and it was impossible not to have a soft spot for Rich, Bennet, Kenny and Stanley. One of my favourite things about this book is the portrayal of friendship, especially between these four young lads. I loved seeing how they were there for each other and the loyalty they had for each other.
Overflowing in northern charm and 80s nostalgia, this book felt like home and transported me back to my own childhood at that time on a council estate in Sheffield. Matt has captured the era so perfectly; that time when summer meant hanging out with friends and the days felt endless. There is also a past timeline which is told through extracts from a journal written by a teenage boy from 1938-41 Reginald was one of the attendees of the original Boy’s Club (or The Dead Dad’s Club as it was then known). I loved these extracts. Matt expertly captures the vibe of an angst-filled teenager and all of the dilemmas that come at that stage of life whilst combining them with the brutal realities of war.
One of the core themes of this book is that it is a story about the unfortunates; those people who are struggling in life. For example, Reginald is an evacuee, Rich lost his father when he was just six, and all of his friends have problems at home of some kind. It is even evident in the Boy’s Club, which was formed during World War II for the boys whose fathers were away and sometimes didn’t come home. And once again we see how friendship and community can help, offering us hope and restoring our faith in people.
Warm, witty and absolutely wonderful, I highly recommend this book.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The long school summer holidays are looming, and in an effort to avoid the local bully, four young boys are persuaded to join a boys' club at the local church.
Author Matt Coyne's debut novel, Frank And Red, is one of my favourite books. I regularly recommend it to people, and I've yet to hear from anyone who didn't enjoy it. So I had high expectations for his second novel, The Trouble With Sister Francis.
As the story opens in 1981, we meet four young boys who live on the outskirts of Sheffield. Richie, Stan, Kenny, and Bennett are approaching the end of their time at primary school and a future that will see them separated as they move on to secondary school. Weekends and school holidays see them hanging about in the park until the local bully scares them off. With little else to do, they decide to check out the newly reopened boys' club at the nearby church. The club doesn't quite live up to expectations when they first arrive, and the nun who is in charge, Sister Francis, certainly isn't your stereotypical representative of the church.
At its heart, this is a story about camaraderie. Each of the boys is different. Richie is the natural leader, the one the others defer to. Stan is a bit of a wimp, terrified of everything. Bennett is just different, obviously neurodivergent long before it was identified. And Kenny, he's always the first to arrive and the last to leave, desperately avoiding his terrible home life. Kenny tells tall tales to deflect from what happens at home, and his friends just accept them, all while knowing what he has to put up with. Whenever Kenny was embellishing the truth, I was convinced he was going to grow up to become the Kenny Senior character in Phoenix Nights.
Alongside the story of the boys in 1981, there is a secondary story when Richie uncovers a journal written by Reginald Hartfeld, a fifteen-year-old who is evacuated from London to Yorkshire during the war. We hear from a lonely Reginald, miles from home, who becomes one of the original boys' club members and falls in love. I loved seeing the pieces of ephemera that were included with the journal. How this story connected to the club in 1981 was at the forefront of my mind however.
I found myself snorting with laughter repeatedly at the antics only 11-year-old boys can get up to, and nostalgia hit me on a regular basis; the smell of the school Banda machine and the description of Saturday nights spent as a family were very evocative. There is a confrontation towards the end where I could feel my chest getting tight as I read, and afterwards, I wanted to punch the air and scream "YES!" as I was so invested in the story and characters. There are also lots of bittersweet moments. I certainly didn't expect the tears towards the end. By the time I'd finished, I was ready to go right back to the beginning and start again.
If you enjoyed my review please check out my book blog, Reading For Leisure
https://readingforleisure.blogspot.com/
or follow me on:-
Twitter; @Debbie_Hart_UK
Instagram; @reading_for_leisure_blog
Author Matt Coyne's debut novel, Frank And Red, is one of my favourite books. I regularly recommend it to people, and I've yet to hear from anyone who didn't enjoy it. So I had high expectations for his second novel, The Trouble With Sister Francis.
As the story opens in 1981, we meet four young boys who live on the outskirts of Sheffield. Richie, Stan, Kenny, and Bennett are approaching the end of their time at primary school and a future that will see them separated as they move on to secondary school. Weekends and school holidays see them hanging about in the park until the local bully scares them off. With little else to do, they decide to check out the newly reopened boys' club at the nearby church. The club doesn't quite live up to expectations when they first arrive, and the nun who is in charge, Sister Francis, certainly isn't your stereotypical representative of the church.
At its heart, this is a story about camaraderie. Each of the boys is different. Richie is the natural leader, the one the others defer to. Stan is a bit of a wimp, terrified of everything. Bennett is just different, obviously neurodivergent long before it was identified. And Kenny, he's always the first to arrive and the last to leave, desperately avoiding his terrible home life. Kenny tells tall tales to deflect from what happens at home, and his friends just accept them, all while knowing what he has to put up with. Whenever Kenny was embellishing the truth, I was convinced he was going to grow up to become the Kenny Senior character in Phoenix Nights.
Alongside the story of the boys in 1981, there is a secondary story when Richie uncovers a journal written by Reginald Hartfeld, a fifteen-year-old who is evacuated from London to Yorkshire during the war. We hear from a lonely Reginald, miles from home, who becomes one of the original boys' club members and falls in love. I loved seeing the pieces of ephemera that were included with the journal. How this story connected to the club in 1981 was at the forefront of my mind however.
I found myself snorting with laughter repeatedly at the antics only 11-year-old boys can get up to, and nostalgia hit me on a regular basis; the smell of the school Banda machine and the description of Saturday nights spent as a family were very evocative. There is a confrontation towards the end where I could feel my chest getting tight as I read, and afterwards, I wanted to punch the air and scream "YES!" as I was so invested in the story and characters. There are also lots of bittersweet moments. I certainly didn't expect the tears towards the end. By the time I'd finished, I was ready to go right back to the beginning and start again.
If you enjoyed my review please check out my book blog, Reading For Leisure
https://readingforleisure.blogspot.com/
or follow me on:-
Twitter; @Debbie_Hart_UK
Instagram; @reading_for_leisure_blog
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
1980s Britain.
Perfectly conjured memories for those of us who remember the freedom of childhood summers before mobile phones and social media even existed.
Four friends - Richie, Bennett, Kenny and Stan are facing a long, hot summer together on the deprived Whittle Estate in Sheffield before they split into two different schools in September. There is a feeling of doubt and fear for the future - will they all still be friends in the years to come or will be lose touch and move on as life pulls them apart.
But for now there is the summer, six glorious weeks of mischief-making and hanging around in parks.
Set against a background of Thatcher’s miner’s strikes, money is scarce. When the local bullies cut off their access to the local park, suddenly the summer is looking much less inviting. Enter Sister Francis, a rebellious nun driving a clapped out, rusty minibus which bears a hilariously faded sign on the side. Against the wishes of the curmudgeonly Father Sheridan, Sister F is reviving the summer boys’ club at the local church: The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, which previously earned itself the moniker of The Dead Dads Club.
Richie, Bennett, Kenny and Stan find themselves with little choice other than to be the founding members of the newly reintroduced club.
The story is told from the alternating timelines of Richie’s experience of 1980s Sheffield and the outbreak of the Second World War through the long-forgotten journal of Reginald R. Hartfeld. Reginald (or Reggie) is fifteen years old in 1938 and finds himself evacuated from London to the Whittle Estate, to become one of the founding members of the Dead Dads Club.
I don’t think it’s quite possible to accurately describe all the emotions that this book leads you through - expect moments of heartwarming joy, heartbreak, laugh out loud humour and absolute shock. And whilst I initially suspected one of the major reveals, Coyne had successfully managed to throw me off scent so there were definitely a few moments where I audibly gasped. I became so completely emotionally invested in this book that the characters feel like friends, I took personal umbrage with the detestable Father Sheridan and I found myself in tears a couple of times towards the end.
I previously read, and adored Frank and Red, also by Matt Coyne, so I was keen to read his new novel and I was not disappointed. It’s hard to put into words how much I have enjoyed The Trouble with Sister Francis, Coyne is simply a superb storyteller - his novels bring a piece of absolute joy to readers. He doesn’t write fantastical high-risk tales, gritty dramas or epic romances. Instead, he writes tales of real lives, perfectly identifiable experiences that leap off the page and straight into your heart.
This is quite possibly the easiest 5 star rating I have given this year and I suspect that this will be a contender for my favourite book of 2026. If I could give The Trouble with Sister Francis six stars then I absolutely would.
As a final piece of advice from me: read the acknowledgements, it’s worth it.
Perfectly conjured memories for those of us who remember the freedom of childhood summers before mobile phones and social media even existed.
Four friends - Richie, Bennett, Kenny and Stan are facing a long, hot summer together on the deprived Whittle Estate in Sheffield before they split into two different schools in September. There is a feeling of doubt and fear for the future - will they all still be friends in the years to come or will be lose touch and move on as life pulls them apart.
But for now there is the summer, six glorious weeks of mischief-making and hanging around in parks.
Set against a background of Thatcher’s miner’s strikes, money is scarce. When the local bullies cut off their access to the local park, suddenly the summer is looking much less inviting. Enter Sister Francis, a rebellious nun driving a clapped out, rusty minibus which bears a hilariously faded sign on the side. Against the wishes of the curmudgeonly Father Sheridan, Sister F is reviving the summer boys’ club at the local church: The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, which previously earned itself the moniker of The Dead Dads Club.
Richie, Bennett, Kenny and Stan find themselves with little choice other than to be the founding members of the newly reintroduced club.
The story is told from the alternating timelines of Richie’s experience of 1980s Sheffield and the outbreak of the Second World War through the long-forgotten journal of Reginald R. Hartfeld. Reginald (or Reggie) is fifteen years old in 1938 and finds himself evacuated from London to the Whittle Estate, to become one of the founding members of the Dead Dads Club.
I don’t think it’s quite possible to accurately describe all the emotions that this book leads you through - expect moments of heartwarming joy, heartbreak, laugh out loud humour and absolute shock. And whilst I initially suspected one of the major reveals, Coyne had successfully managed to throw me off scent so there were definitely a few moments where I audibly gasped. I became so completely emotionally invested in this book that the characters feel like friends, I took personal umbrage with the detestable Father Sheridan and I found myself in tears a couple of times towards the end.
I previously read, and adored Frank and Red, also by Matt Coyne, so I was keen to read his new novel and I was not disappointed. It’s hard to put into words how much I have enjoyed The Trouble with Sister Francis, Coyne is simply a superb storyteller - his novels bring a piece of absolute joy to readers. He doesn’t write fantastical high-risk tales, gritty dramas or epic romances. Instead, he writes tales of real lives, perfectly identifiable experiences that leap off the page and straight into your heart.
This is quite possibly the easiest 5 star rating I have given this year and I suspect that this will be a contender for my favourite book of 2026. If I could give The Trouble with Sister Francis six stars then I absolutely would.
As a final piece of advice from me: read the acknowledgements, it’s worth it.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Early 1980s, Britain. Four best friends, with very little to do and no place to go, are trying to find ways to entertain themselves when they come upon a flyer for a club with a rather unfortunate name. The Dead Dads Club was established many, many years ago. But when a fire broke out, it was shut down and the place was left to crumble. Now though, Sister Francis wants to resurrect the place and give the local community somewhere to go.
Sister Francis is the most unlikely nun you've ever met. She smokes like a chimney, is a hazard on the road, doesn't really seem all that bothered about things, religious or otherwise, and has somewhat of a rebellious streak. But once you get to know her, you realise there is far more to her than meets the eye. There are quite a few things to discover about her, and maybe it might even explain why this club - now renamed to the Blessed Assumption Boys Club - is so important to her.
I thought the character of Sister Francis was brilliant, though not quite in the way I had expected. But for me, the characters that stood out the most were the four fabulous friends. Kenny, Bennett, Stan, and Rich are quite different. Kenny is a bit of a trouble magnet, Bennett is very quiet but super smart, Stan unintentionally brings the humour, and Rich is the most delightful, observing, and thoughtful young boy. Together, they are the epitome of the perfect friendship. They are there for each other, no matter what.
It took me a minute to figure out how the long-forgotten journal fitted in until there was an "aha" moment that turned some things quite onto their heads. Obviously, I can't go into details here but I'm sure you too will try to puzzle out how things came to be a certain way. It is, unfortunately, a heartbreaking and frustrating tale as old as time and it's impossible not to feel for the characters involved. There is definitely a kind of crossroads moment, where you wonder how things would have turned out if a certain path of life hadn't been blocked. Vague, isn't it? So sorry!
This is one of those books where the nostalgia jumps off the page and smacks you right in the face. But most of all, 'The Trouble With Sister Francis' is full of hope and there is just so much to love about this story. There are some wonderful laugh-out-loud moments, but there is also room for serious topics. All handled most brilliantly by both author and characters involved. These four friends will warm your heart as they navigate this weird and fabulous thing called life. There is much to learn along the way, there is much to laugh about, and to be grateful for.
The Fab Four and their delightful story of friendship is heartwarming and uplifting, and just like with Matt Coyne's predecessor, I'm unlikely to forget them in a hurry. It seems he has an uncanny ability to come up with memorable characters and I can't wait to see what's next.
Sister Francis is the most unlikely nun you've ever met. She smokes like a chimney, is a hazard on the road, doesn't really seem all that bothered about things, religious or otherwise, and has somewhat of a rebellious streak. But once you get to know her, you realise there is far more to her than meets the eye. There are quite a few things to discover about her, and maybe it might even explain why this club - now renamed to the Blessed Assumption Boys Club - is so important to her.
I thought the character of Sister Francis was brilliant, though not quite in the way I had expected. But for me, the characters that stood out the most were the four fabulous friends. Kenny, Bennett, Stan, and Rich are quite different. Kenny is a bit of a trouble magnet, Bennett is very quiet but super smart, Stan unintentionally brings the humour, and Rich is the most delightful, observing, and thoughtful young boy. Together, they are the epitome of the perfect friendship. They are there for each other, no matter what.
It took me a minute to figure out how the long-forgotten journal fitted in until there was an "aha" moment that turned some things quite onto their heads. Obviously, I can't go into details here but I'm sure you too will try to puzzle out how things came to be a certain way. It is, unfortunately, a heartbreaking and frustrating tale as old as time and it's impossible not to feel for the characters involved. There is definitely a kind of crossroads moment, where you wonder how things would have turned out if a certain path of life hadn't been blocked. Vague, isn't it? So sorry!
This is one of those books where the nostalgia jumps off the page and smacks you right in the face. But most of all, 'The Trouble With Sister Francis' is full of hope and there is just so much to love about this story. There are some wonderful laugh-out-loud moments, but there is also room for serious topics. All handled most brilliantly by both author and characters involved. These four friends will warm your heart as they navigate this weird and fabulous thing called life. There is much to learn along the way, there is much to laugh about, and to be grateful for.
The Fab Four and their delightful story of friendship is heartwarming and uplifting, and just like with Matt Coyne's predecessor, I'm unlikely to forget them in a hurry. It seems he has an uncanny ability to come up with memorable characters and I can't wait to see what's next.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
After his debut book Frank and Red ended up in my top five books of 2024, I have been champing at the bit to get my hands on this, his highly anticipated, by me anyway, second book.
And I have to say that although my expectations were high, he absolutely smashed them... It's by far my favourite book I have read so far this year - out of 199 - There is no doubt in my mind it will remain up there come year end...
So... we start with Richie, Kenny, Bennett, and Stan, 11 year old best friends from the local estate and, as the summer holidays are approaching, are looking forward to a whole bunch of nothing to do. Until they spot a flyer advertising the return of the once defunct Blessed Assumption Boys Club which is to be run by the most wonderful character that is Sister Francis. They attend an open day where they find out that there's a lot to do before the club re-opens but Sister F ropes (bribes) the boys into helping her. Sadly, not everyone is in favour of the Boys Club reopening, but I will leave you to find that out for yourself.
Meanwhile, as well as the shenanigans of the Boys Club antics in the present day, we also go back in time to 1938, where we follow a 15 year old Reginald R Hartfield starting to write a journal. Initially detailing his days at school, but as time goes on, and war breaks out, we follow his evacuation and find out why the Boys Club first started and witness its early times...
I loved this book. I know I already said it, but I did, so so much. Especially towards the end when certain things started to come together. And I could bang on and on about all of them but spoilers prevent me from doing so here. Suffice to say that I did read behind tears quite a bit as we approached the end. But then the whole book was emotional for me. I absolutely loved all the memory links I got from my connection with the time in which the book was set. I am pretty much the same age as the boys. Which means I grew up watching the same TV shows. eating the same sweets, smelling the same smells, playing the same games, and I had so much fun revisiting my own childhood as I read about what they were getting up to.
And the story being told, the one that spanned the years, and the characters who were all part of it, both in the past and the present, and those who appeared in both. Absolutely loved every single moment. Especially when certain connections were made and things were explained. Oh My Days!
I never thought that the author could possibly top Frank and Red for characters, story, emotions, but boy was I wrong... Which obviously only leaves the one outstanding question... how in the heck is he going to top this one...
Meanwhile, whilst I am waiting to find out, I'm going to get me an audiobook copy of this book and revisit it. I already have Frank and Red on audio so I might well give that a relisten too.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.
And I have to say that although my expectations were high, he absolutely smashed them... It's by far my favourite book I have read so far this year - out of 199 - There is no doubt in my mind it will remain up there come year end...
So... we start with Richie, Kenny, Bennett, and Stan, 11 year old best friends from the local estate and, as the summer holidays are approaching, are looking forward to a whole bunch of nothing to do. Until they spot a flyer advertising the return of the once defunct Blessed Assumption Boys Club which is to be run by the most wonderful character that is Sister Francis. They attend an open day where they find out that there's a lot to do before the club re-opens but Sister F ropes (bribes) the boys into helping her. Sadly, not everyone is in favour of the Boys Club reopening, but I will leave you to find that out for yourself.
Meanwhile, as well as the shenanigans of the Boys Club antics in the present day, we also go back in time to 1938, where we follow a 15 year old Reginald R Hartfield starting to write a journal. Initially detailing his days at school, but as time goes on, and war breaks out, we follow his evacuation and find out why the Boys Club first started and witness its early times...
I loved this book. I know I already said it, but I did, so so much. Especially towards the end when certain things started to come together. And I could bang on and on about all of them but spoilers prevent me from doing so here. Suffice to say that I did read behind tears quite a bit as we approached the end. But then the whole book was emotional for me. I absolutely loved all the memory links I got from my connection with the time in which the book was set. I am pretty much the same age as the boys. Which means I grew up watching the same TV shows. eating the same sweets, smelling the same smells, playing the same games, and I had so much fun revisiting my own childhood as I read about what they were getting up to.
And the story being told, the one that spanned the years, and the characters who were all part of it, both in the past and the present, and those who appeared in both. Absolutely loved every single moment. Especially when certain connections were made and things were explained. Oh My Days!
I never thought that the author could possibly top Frank and Red for characters, story, emotions, but boy was I wrong... Which obviously only leaves the one outstanding question... how in the heck is he going to top this one...
Meanwhile, whilst I am waiting to find out, I'm going to get me an audiobook copy of this book and revisit it. I already have Frank and Red on audio so I might well give that a relisten too.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.
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