Books
Published 20 March 2025 Legend Press
Home Bird
'This has all of Fran's trademark quick wit and black humour' Gráinne Murphy
'Funny, warm and very moving' Lucinda Hawksley
'Fran writes with such humour and humanity, it was an absolute tonic' Victoria Mackenzie
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1979. Jackie Chadwick is 17 and living in a supported bedsit. She's still close to her foster parents and friends with (aka unofficial minder for) Amanda, their irresponsible daughter, but she’s enjoying her independence – until a fire leaves her temporarily homeless. Jackie’s dad, widower and recovering alcoholic Dave, has just been released from prison and sees this as his chance to make amends. He offers her his spare room – but can their relationship survive him going back on the booze and the arrival of his gin-loving lady friend and her errant son? As things go from bad to worse, Jackie has to decide how many chances you give someone who keeps letting you down.
Bittersweet and funny,
Home Bird draws on Fran Hill's own experiences as a teenager in foster care.
Published 26 April 2023 Legend Press
Cuckoo in the Nest
It's the heatwave summer of 1976 and 14-year-old would-be poet Jackie Chadwick is newly fostered by the Walls. She desperately needs stability, but their insecure, jealous teenage daughter isn't happy about the cuckoo in the nest and sets about ousting her. When her attempts to do so lead to near-tragedy – and the Walls’ veneer of middle-class respectability begins to crumble – everyone in the household is forced to reassess what really matters. Funny and poignant, Cuckoo in the Nest is inspired by Fran Hill’s own experience of being fostered as a teenager.
Published 21 May 2020 SPCK
'Miss, What Does Incomprehensible Mean?'
A funny, life-affirming memoir, in diary form. Set in the manic world of a busy teacher, and based on real experiences, this account of one typical year shows it’s not just the pupils who misbehave.
English teacher ‘Miss’ starts the Autumn term beleaguered by self-doubts. She’s mid-menopause, insomniac, and Mirror and Bathroom Scales are blisteringly unsympathetic. Her pupils make her laugh, weep, fume and despair, often in the same lesson. Her unremitting workload blights family time and she feels guilty for missing church events to catch up on marking. After all, God-lady is watching.
Meanwhile, the new Head of Department seems unreachable, an Ofsted inspection looms, her sixth formers (against school policy) insist on sitting in rows, and there’s a school magazine to produce ...
When childhood secrets demand attention Miss doesn’t want to give them, life gets complicated.