Flying for Frankie

I'm not just writing this for Frankie, I'm doing it for me... Almost everything I write is going to be embarrassing, but I've got to do something. I have no choice.

I try to shake things off, but they refuse to budge. So, as well as telling Frankie's story here I'm checking my memory, that I've got everything right. The friendship.

Our secrets. The things we shared. The extraordinary way it ended.

And the flying. That most of all.... FLYING FOR FRANKIE is story about friendship, teenage aspirations, terminal illness, religion and celebration, failure and success - and a serious fear of flying.

Written with the same light touch as THE MRS MARRIDGE PROJECT, it's the story of bed-bound Frankie, whose imagination flies daily, and her best friend, Charis, who wants to do something to celebrate Frankie's life - and do it now while she's still alive. Charis has decided to 'fly for her friend', who's always dreamt of being a pilot but now won't be able to. She wants to do something impossibly difficult to celebrate what Frankie means to her, and make her proud.

The trouble is that Frankie's always been fearless and up for anything, whereas Charis is a wimp. She embarks on a series of training courses to paraglide, parachute jump, take the controls of a helicopter and pilot a hot-air balloon. By doing something brave she hopes she might somehow tip the scales of life in her friend's favour.

A topical, heart-rending new novel from award-winning writer Pauline Fisk. Flying for Frankie portrays a very real, utterly brave and ultimately uplifting story of two girls learning to live life in the face of terminal illness. 'Fisk has an effortless understanding of what it feels like to be a child.' Kate Kellaway, Observer