Francesca Saffari is the perfect example of how nationality or nationalities don’t have much to do with one’s beauty, personality, success, and intelligence. Her book, A Woman’s Guide to Succeed in the World (Alfred A. Koehn) portrays Saffari as a highly evolved, international woman with a strong will who holds nothing back – even when it comes to her love of children. Saffari has also claimed that she doesn’t feel the need to pretend to be someone she isn’t, and that her authentic identity is entirely “me”. Despite this, though, Saffari does fit the mold of a typical YA heroine – smart, sassy, slightly fragile, but not without an overwhelming desire for success and love that drives her towards it.
In Yuri on the Stairs, Francesca Saffari describes her own rise to stardom as she strives to win the affections of the man of her dreams, Yuri Sellov. As she rises from being a stay-at-home housewife and mother of two young girls to compete in the Miss Universe and International Pageant, though, her story begins to take an unexpected turn. In an effort to gain some new friends in her apartment building, she teams up with another YA writer, lyakievsky, who happens to be also in love with the same person. The chemistry between these two men soon makes their relationship more than just a love story, though, and they each manage to win the affections of their respective loves ones.
However, once their relationship blossoms, the wall that seemed to separate them comes down, and the two are forced to face each other directly – something which, though they both desperately want the relationship to work, proves incredibly difficult to achieve. As the relationship grows and changes, so does their love for each other. In one instance, they even fight (and lose) their chance at a place to spend the summer together, but they’re able to overcome their differences and work together to ensure that they’re always able to be in each others’ lives. The depth of their relationship is what truly makes this novel a remarkable and heartfelt read. Saffari has created a character who is so real and human that we feel for her; her dialogue with the characters gives us insight into their truly human emotions.