Saving Francesca is about well, Francesca. She's in grade eleven, and this year everything changes. She's going to a new school, St. Sebastian's, which as just converted to co-ed from being all-boys. None of her friends from her old school are attending St. Sebastians. To top it all off, one day her mother won't get out of bed. One day turns into two and two turns into many. Francesca and her mother have always seemed to butt heads about Francesca's life, but without her mother there to constantly push her, Francesca ends up trying to figure out who she is on her own, while trying to make her way in a new environment. 
 Melina Marchetta has a wonderful way of starting with the basics and just slowly and methodically building until you stop for just a second and realize that Francesca has started building her own life despite all the sadness and uncertainty going on around her. It's so subtle that you don't see it at first, but then by the end you understand that Francesca will make it out ok. 
 The book took a very stark look at the effects adult depression can have not only on that person but on everyone is their lives. Francesca's the voice of the book, but a lot of the story stems from her mother, Mia's, illness. Francesca is at the age where she wants to and figures she needs to find out who she is / what she's going to be. It's a crazy time in a young person's life and Francesca feels absolutely lost without her mother. Weeks before she probably would have been glad if Mia would have backed down a little, but when she leaves her alone completely Francesca feels the void. 
 It's a sad yet sweet book about finding your way even through the seemingly impossible. About coping with family illness. About being who you are and not what others want you to be. The only other book by Marchetta that I've read is On the Jellicoe Road and I loved that one too. I highley recommend these two stories from her and I look forward to reading more of her work myself.