`Saving Francesca' is a heartfelt book written by Australian author Melina Marchetta in 2000. The novel is about Francesca, a sixteen year old girl during a transitional year in her family and school life. It explores Francesca's sometimes turbulent journey to finding her true self, as she builds some extraordinary and quite unexpected friendships along the way whilst trying to cope with her mother's battle with depression.

`Saving Francesca' is an exceptional standout in a field of teen chick lit because of its achingly real characters and themes. Characterisation is a major aspect which makes the novel so emotional and provoking. Francesca is brutally honest and her frank observations of her surroundings are realistic. Melina Marchetta also balances Francesca's humour with sympathy when depicting her mother's struggle with clinical depression. The secondary characters, Francesca's family, are also all written with compelling voices which portrays the pain they are constantly...