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In the summer of 1983 four teenagers hanging out in Sligo vow that if Abba ever reunite they’ll be in the audience. Fast-forward 30 years and Maggie, Daniel, Charlie and Dee have long since drifted apart. But when Abba announce a comeback concert Maggie tracks down her former friends to make them keep their promise. The Dublin-based writer and journalist Brian Finnegan has created an absorbing read with lots of plot, and the locations and characters inject extra zest. My favourite is a thoughtful woman called Cassandra, but I could have done without Maggie, who has martyrdom down to an art. As each of the mates is suffering a crisis, the book poses poignant questions. If the adult you become is shockingly different from the person your family expected, can you win their acceptance? Can a father who’s been missing in action help his child defeat bullies? Why do feisty girls grow into doormats? One quibble: Finnegan cuts away from some enthralling situations. When a man finds out the woman he’s sleeping with was born male, I want to know what happens straight away, not read about it later as a flashback.
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