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The award-winning author of Finnikin of the Rock and Jellicoe Road pens a raw, compelling novel about a family’s hard-won healing on the other side of trauma.
Award-winning author Melina Marchetta reopens the story of the group of friends from her acclaimed novel Saving Francesca - but five years have passed, and now it’s Thomas Mackee who needs saving. After his favorite uncle was blown to bits on his way to work in a foreign city, Tom watched his family implode. He quit school and turned his back on his music and everyone that mattered, including the girl he can’t forget. Shooting for oblivion, he’s hit rock bottom, forced to live with his single, pregnant aunt, work at the Union pub with his former friends, and reckon with his grieving, alcoholic father. Tom’s in no shape to mend what’s broken. But what if no one else is either? An unflinching look at family, forgiveness, and the fierce inner workings of love and friendship, The Piper’s Son redefines what it means to go home again.
Thomas Finch Mackee is many things to many people. Musician, friend, and most recently complete jerk.
Five years ago his world seemed certain. He was friends with the girls from school. He wanted to be something more to Tara Finke. He would follow his charming father anywhere--most people would, Dom has always been a pied piper. That was before London.
That was before his family had to bury another empty coffin, this time for Tom's uncle lost in the London bombing.
After London nothing is quite so sure. Tom's father is gone. His mother and sister are in another city. He's lost touch with his friends. Tom's life is falling apart.
When Tom moves in with his pregnant aunt and finds a job working with the friends he abandoned he might also find a way back to himself. Everything is broken. But with a little time, and a lot of forgiveness, some of it can probably be fixed in The Piper's Son (2011) by Melina Marchetta.
What a beautiful book. I've cried because books are funny, because they are sad, but this is the first time I ever felt teary at the end of the book because everything is so perfect and so beautiful.
The Piper's Son is Marchetta's fifth book. It is also a sequel to Saving Francesca--a book that has a permanent place in my top five all time favorite books. Interestingly you can see hints of Marchetta's earlier works in this novel. You can see nods to Jellicoe Road in the snappy beginning*, Finnikin of the Rock in the things not overtly said, and of course nods to Saving Francesca (and even Looking for Alibrandi in terms of family dynamics). Much as I love Marchetta's earlier books, especially Saving Francesca, this one might surpass them all.
Set five years after Saving Francesca this is an interesting book that is being marketed as Young Adult but where all of the characters are, technically, adults (Tom and his group are in their early twenties). The story also alternates between Tom's view and his aunt Georgie who is 42 and pregnant. The alternating voices work to flesh out the story and make sense of Tom's complex family. Their stories in tandem also work to highlight how much both characters change from the beginning of The Piper's Son to the end.
Although The Piper's Son is a sequel you can almost read it before Saving Francesca** because Marchetta has so masterfully built in Tom and his friends' backstories into Tom's story has readers learn what happened between the two novels. Everyone reader's loved from Saving Francesca (Francesca and the girls and even Will Trombal) returns in this novel along with a lot of great new characters (Ned, Anabel). This book truly made me love Francesca and her group even more than I did before.
As always Marchetta has left me completely floored and truly enchanted. The Piper's Son is a wonderful story that is both optimistic and utterly enthralling.
*And in a certain violin player named Ben! Thanks to the inimitable Karyn Silverman for pointing out Ben's cameo to me!
**Don't do this because part of the charm of Saving Francesca is meeting these characters for the first time. But if you feel you must ignore my advice, know that you could.
Possible Pairings: Entwined by Heather Dixon, Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst, Stealing Henry by Carolyn MacCullough, Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
jarujav
Posted January 8, 2012
If you loved Saving Francesca, you'll definitely want to re-enter her and her friends' world.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.brooke7
Posted September 8, 2011
I am so sad that more people aren't reading Melina Marchetta. She is an amazing author and not one of her books has ever disapointed me. I love everyone of her books and when ever I found out she was doing a follow up to Saving Francesca I was so happy and excited to find out what happend to two of my favorite characters ever, Thomas and Tara. This book did not let me down, it went so far beyond my expectations. The characters are so amazingly real, i feel like I know them all so well. Marchetta's writing is so witty and and encompassing, from the very first line your hooked. I highly advise you read this book, however I will say that it might be better if your read saving francessca before because then you can make all these awesome connections. *Saving Francessca is probaly one of my least fav of Marchettas books, Its amazing just not as amazing as all her other books*
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Posted March 18, 2011
Absolutely fabulous - I'm a Melina Marchetta fan-girl now.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.The Piper's Son
By Melina Marchetta
When Tom's uncle died his family fell apart. His dad became an alcoholic, his mom moved away taking his sister with her and Tom doesn't want anything to do with his closest friends or the girl he loves. One night while playing guitar at one of his gigs Tom had an accident that took him to the hospital. After he got out he discovers that his roommates kicked him out of their apartment, leaving him on the street with nowhere to go to except to his 42 year old pregnant aunt's house. After all this misfortune he decides to recover everything that he once had.
The Piper's Son is the sequel to Saving Francesca and it takes place 5 years after. Is basically a standalone book but I assure you'll want to read Saving Francesca after you read The Piper's Son. This book made me want to cry and laugh in every chapter. It's such a contradiction that a book makes you laugh and cry at the same time but that's the way it is. The story is sad but the way the characters act is funny and is a perfect balance. The best part is that you know there's light at the end of the tunnel. The stuff that happens to Tom and his family is so sad that I felt their pain because is so realistic that is scary at times. The Mackee-Finch are a normal family, when something bad happens they cry and get mad but they will go on living by helping each other survive. This book makes you realize that before giving up always think that something wonderful might be 12 minutes away from happening.
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Posted September 22, 2011
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Posted September 9, 2011
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Posted January 10, 2012
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Posted April 20, 2011
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Posted January 27, 2013
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Posted December 29, 2012
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Overview
The award-winning author of Finnikin of the Rock and Jellicoe Road pens a raw, compelling novel about a family’s hard-won healing on the other side of trauma.
Award-winning author Melina Marchetta reopens the story of the group of friends from her acclaimed novel Saving Francesca - but five years have passed, and now it’s Thomas Mackee who needs saving. After his favorite uncle was blown to bits on his way to work in a foreign city, Tom watched his family implode. He quit school...