Published 27th August 2026 by Wildfire.
From the cover of the book:
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.
***********
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 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!
The Trouble with Sister Francis is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Wildfire for send8ng me a review copy of this book.
About the author:
Matt Coyne is from Sheffield, South Yorkshire. In September 2015, his life was turned upside down by the arrival of his son, Charlie. Three months into parenthood, he took to social media to write about his experience as a clueless first-time dad. Within days, his post about surviving the early months of parenthood was shared by millions around the world.
Following this, Matt created his popular blog Man vs Baby, which now has more than 500,000 followers. He is the author of two Sunday Times bestselling books - Dummy and Man vs. Toddler - both based on Man vs Baby and has written for the Guardian, Telegraph, Private Eye and GQ.
The Trouble with Sister Francis is Matt's second novel, following his acclaimed, award-winning debut Frank and Red.
Matt lives in Sheffield with his son Charlie, his partner Lyndsay and a Jack Russell terrier with 'issues' called Popcorn.
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