Almost 8 years exactly after I read it the first time, Saving Francesca is still just as poignant and beautiful as it was that Christmas Day in 2011. I devoured it in one day then, and this time I took my time.

Reading it over three days, I noticed more things and other memories I had to correct

Spoiler

I could have *sworn* Thomas and Tara got together. I also thought Will and Francesca dated for longer. I really thought we spent more time with Francesca’s family as well. I did NOT remember Jimmy or Brolin or Quinn

I also understood the mother’s depression and Francesca’s own functioning depression this time around. It made the story more touching, riveting, bittersweet than the first time through, and I love the care that Melina Marchetta puts into the small moments of humanity that are easy to skim over or not include in books. For example, how siblings tell a story, or the minor behavior shifts of someone with a crush. She’s an expert in show not tell and I love it.

That said, I was a bit thrown off this time around by so many of the abrupt shifts in time and space when the text treated it as just another paragraph. Probably me being nit picky but I would have preferred some kind of section break.

Also there were a few story lines that died off. Macbeth, Francesca’s relationship with her brother and the rest of her family, the Sophia incident, and some others. It’s a bit disappointing given Marchetta’s skill to never drop a storyline in her novel On the Jellicoe Road.

Overall fantastic read.