SAVING FRANCESCA gave me my first profile in the U.S. really. I’ve told this story many times before, that Knopf [an imprint of Random House] flew me over to the U.S. and I was reading in-house at Random and someone approached me later and said it was strange to hear Francesca with an Australian accent. I laughed about that in Chicago, at another reading, and someone approached me later and said, “Oh no, Francesca’s a Chicago girl.” I love telling that story because it proves how universal this very ordinary teenager is. Two days ago I received a letter in the mail via my publishers, which charmed me to death because, really, who gets par avion letters in the mail anymore? It was from an 89-year-old woman in New Zealand who loved Francesca. It made my day. All I could imagine was an 89-year-old woman speaking to a 13-year-old girl about my writing.
https://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-daily/2013/01/25/5-questions-with-melina-marchetta-(jellicoe-road-finnikin-of-the-rock)
Before there was Eleanor and Park, there was Francesca and Will.
A compelling story of romance, family, and friendship, with humor and heart, perfect for fans of If I Stay, The Spectacular Now, and Looking for Alaska.
Francesca is stuck at St. Sebastian’s, a boys’ school that pretends it’s coed by giving the girls their own bathroom. Her only female companions are an ultra-feminist, a rumored slut, and an impossibly dorky accordion player. The boys are no better, from Thomas, who specializes in musical burping, to Will, the perpetually frowning, smug moron that Francesca can’t seem to stop thinking about.
Then there’s Francesca’s mother, who always thinks she knows what’s best for Francesca—until she is suddenly stricken with acute depression, leaving Francesca lost, alone, and without an inkling of who she really is. Simultaneously humorous, poignant, and impossible to put down, this is the story of a girl who must summon the strength to save her family, her social life, and—hardest of all—herself.
Melina Marchetta is the Printz-winning author of Jellicoe Road, as well as Looking for Alibrandi and Finnikin of the Rock.
Melina Marchetta is one of Australia's most successful writers of young-adult fiction and is a best-selling and critically acclaimed author in more than twenty countries and in eighteen languages. In 2009 Marchetta won the prestigious Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association for On the Jellicoe Road, and Melina's screenplay for this book is currently set to be made into a major film with an international cast to be directed by Looking for Alibrandi director Kate Woods. Melina has written for ABC-TV's Dance Academy. Finnikin of the Rock, Book One of the Lumatere Chronicles,was first published in Australia in 2008, followed in 2010 by the companion novel to her award-winning book Saving Francesca, The Piper's Son, long-listed for the Miles Franklin Award and short-listed for many other literary awards in Australia and internationally. Melina is also the author of The Gorgon in the Gully, which takes up the story of On the Jellicoe Road's Jonah Griggs's family, and stars his younger brother Danny in this story for younger readers. Book Two in the Lumatere Chronicles, Froi of the Exiles, was published in 2011, and Book Three, Quintana of Charyn, was published in 2012. 2012 also marked the twenty-year anniversary of Melina Marchetta's first novel Looking for Alibrandi, the much-loved Australian classic, which was made into a major motion picture and has sold more than half a million copies in Australia.
Francesca Spinelli goes to St. Sebastian’s, a former boys-only school that recently opened its doors to females. Unfortunately, none of Francesca’s friends from St. Stella’s, her old school, are going there. So she has to hang out with the Sebastian boys, Thomas Mackee and Will Trombal, and the "psycho girls" ---Tara Finke, Siobhan Sullivan and Justine Kalinsky. Francesca begs her parents to let her go to Pius, where all the other ex-Stella girls go, but this is to no avail.
One day, Francesca’s mother Mia won’t get out of bed. Francesca, her brother Luca, and her father aren’t sure what to do when she remains in bed day after day, suffering from acute depression. Francesca finds herself dealing with her problems without guidance from her once vivacious mother.
As Francesca finds unlikely friends in the Sebastian boys and "psycho girls," she learns more about herself and her mother. She and the new Sebastian girls stage protests and write petitions to the teachers asking for more girl-boy equality. She also finds an unlikely friend (or maybe more!) in the annoying Will Trombal.
The supporting cast is full of charm, and you’ll find members of your own high school in this group of fictional Australian students. Everyone knows Justine Kalinsky, the sweet but dorky accordionist who has a crush on a boy on her bus, known only as Tuba Boy. We’ve all met a Will Trombal, who seems to be a horrible cad until we really get to know him. All the characters are completely loveable and fun.
SAVING FRANCESCA is a great novel. Personally, I think it is better than Melina Marchetta’s first novel, LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI. Filled with funny and rich characters, and just enough romance, SAVING FRANCESCA is a real winner.