Melina Marchetta

Sixteen-year-old Francesca could use her outspoken mother's help with the problems of being one of a handful of girls at a parochial school that has just turned co-ed, but her mother has suddenly become severely depressed.

Saving Francesca

“The bus comes toward us, and as we stand up he breaks out into “Edelweiss” and he sings it loudly and dramatically, his voice wavering with mock emotion.

And I hug him, holding him tight. At first I think I’m doing it for him, but then I don’t want to let go, so he does the letting go.”

“I lean against a streetlight and throw up, just near his shoe. 

He looks down at the ground and then at me.“The guacamole was a mistake,” he says matter-of-factly.

For the second time that night he makes me laugh. “Don’t make me have to like you,” I tell him.”

Saving Francesca quotes

Join the club