The Trouble with Sister Francis : a new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of FRANK AND RED

Author: Coyne, Matt

Fiction & related items

Published on 27 August 2026 by Headline Publishing Group (Wildfire) in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 448 pages
163 x 243 x 40 | 694g

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.

Praise for FRANK AND RED:'Best book of the year!' ? ? ? ? ?'A fantastic debut' ? ? ? ? ?'A lovely feel-good treat' The Times | 'Simply perfect' Daily Mirror | 'Hilariously funny . . . and beneath it all really quite lovely' Metro | 'Brilliant, just brilliant' Huffington Post | Debut of the Year Woman and Home | A Prima Book of The Year