Saving Francesca

Saving Francesca is a young adult contemporary novel by Melina Marchetta. Set in high school, it tells the story of a teenage girl trying to hold her family together when her mother suffers an acute depressive episode. Published by Knopf in 2006, the book was praised for its humor and raw, honest treatment of family and friendship. Marchetta has won numerous awards over the span of her career, including the 1993 Children’s Book Council of Australia Award and the 2008 Aurealis Award.

Francesca is a typical teenage girl who just wants to fit in at school and enjoy time with her friends. She’s recently moved schools to St. Sebastian’s, which was formerly all-boys and is now co-ed. She only knows a handful of the other girls there, and they’re all very different from her.

Nevertheless, she tries to befriend them and find common ground. She doesn’t see much of her old friends, so it’s important to her to find new ones. When she does see her old friends, all they do is make fun of the girls at Francesca’s new school. Francesca doesn’t like this, but she clings to the idea of at least having these old friends and having people she can talk to.



At school, Francesca grows attracted to her house leader, Will, but he doesn’t seem to notice her. Francesca is disappointed, but she’s more focused on having friends to go about school with than looking for a boyfriend.

Meanwhile, Francesca’s home life takes a turn for the worst. Her mother, who’s always been there for her and is usually upbeat and friendly, can’t get out of bed one morning. Instead of interrogating Francesca about her day the way she normally does, she won’t speak. Francesca’s father and brother, Luca, think it’ll pass, but Francesca is understandably worried and doesn’t know what to do.

Between moving schools and her mother’s mental health, she’s feeling overwhelmed. She tries to be a good sister to Luca and fill her mother’s shoes, but she feels like she can’t get anything right. Meanwhile, she blames her father for her mother’s ill health, so their relationship becomes strained. She doesn’t believe her father is doing enough to help her mother get better, either.



Instead of focusing her attention on her studies, Francesca starts failing classes and struggling at school. She needs help, which she is not getting. She becomes friendlier with the other girls, so at least she has people she can talk to. It’s these new girls, not her old friends, who are there for her when she wants to talk about everything happening at home, and how difficult it is for Luca, too.

Meanwhile, to make matters worse, the boys at St. Sebastian’s are treated differently than the girls, and the girls are starting to notice. The girls formulate a list of demands they want Will to address. They nominate Francesca to take these demands to him, because they trust her to stay level-headed, and she does so. At first, Will is not interested – he’s a moody boy who doesn’t want to bother himself with these issues.

Things only get worse at home. Francesca gets sent to live with her grandmother, and Luca goes to stay with other family because they’re not being taken care of now. Francesca becomes more attracted to Will in the meantime. One night, at a party, she thinks she catches him looking at her, too, but she can’t be sure. When Will approaches her and starts kissing her, she couldn’t be happier – until she learns he has a girlfriend.



Francesca is devastated and withdraws into herself. She feels like her whole life is falling apart, and she doesn’t know how to fix it. Even, worse, her old friends now abandon her altogether, and her mother is still ill.

Francesca comes to rely more and more on her friends at school – not just for her social life, they become something of another family. These girls may not be as “cool” as her old friends, but they are honest and kind, and Francesca learns that’s more important than having fashionable friends. They accept Francesca for who she is, and she can rely on them.

Meanwhile, Francesca’s new-found confidence is attractive to Will. He tries to get closer to her, and it seems a romance is likely. Unsurprisingly, he breaks up with his girlfriend, but he and Francesca don’t rush into anything. Francesca joins a dancing class and is chosen for the school musical, so she has fun interests to occupy her and give her outlets. The school starts treating everyone more fairly.



Finally, Francesca’s mother starts to come around. She starts talking and leaving her bed more. It will be a long recovery from her breakdown, but she makes slow and steady progress. Francesca and her mother both learn to confront their issues, and Francesca learns how to handle changes in her life without simply reacting to them.