– "Five Quarters of the Orange" is a disturbing, sometimes beautiful and sometimes cruel book. It features two parallel timelines, Framboise Dartigen is at the heart of both. We see her as an old woman reestablishing herself in her childhood village, and as a strong-willed child growing up in the French countryside under World War II. As an old widow, Framboise returns to the place where she grew up. She starts to explore the recipe collection she inherited from her mother, that served both as a diary with random entries and as a cookbook. As she delves into her mother's handwritten notes, in a pidgin language only she herself and her children could decipher, childhood memories resurface. The reader is taken on a journey ripe with the angst and joys of growing up, while we follow the old Framboise in her struggle to keep old secrets away from young and greedy relatives.
Five Quarters Of The Orange
«Her strongest writing yet: as tangy and sometimes bitter as Chocolat was smooth»
Independent
A gripping page-turner set in occupied France from international multi-million copy seller Joanne Harris. With the sensuous writing we come to expect from her, this book has a darker core. Perfect for fans of Victoria Hislop, Fiona Valpy, Maggie O'Farrell and Rachel Joyce, this fascinating and vivid journey through human cruelty and kindness is a gripping and compelling read.
Les merA gripping page-turner set in occupied France from international multi-million copy seller Joanne Harris. With the sensuous writing we come to expect from her, this book has a darker core. Perfect for fans of Victoria Hislop, Fiona Valpy, Maggie O'Farrell and Rachel Joyce, this fascinating and vivid journey through human cruelty and kindness is a gripping and compelling read.
'Her strongest writing yet: as tangy and sometimes bitter as Chocolat was smooth' -- Independent
'Harris indulges her love of rich and mouthwatering descriptive passages, appealing to the senses... Thoroughly enjoyable' -- Observer
'Outstanding...beautifully written' -- Daily Mail
'Very thought provoking. I read the book in two days and am still thinking about it a few days down the line' -- ***** Reader review
'Absolutely gripping from the very first page' -- ***** Reader review
'Joanne Harris at her very best!'-- ***** Reader review
'Superb' -- ***** Reader review
'I just couldn't put this one down'-- ***** Reader review 2
*********************************************************
THE PAST WILL ALWAYS CATCH UP WITH YOU...
Beyond the main street of Les Laveuses runs the Loire: smooth and brown as a sunning snake - but hiding a deadly undertow beneath its moving surface. This is where Framboise, a secretive widow, plies her culinary trade at the crêperie - and lets her memory play strange games.
As her nephew attempts to exploit the growing success of the country recipes Framboise has inherited from her mother - a woman remembered with contempt by the villagers - memories of a disturbed childhood during the German Occupation flood back, and expose a past full of betrayal, blackmail and lies...
Kundevurdering:
"Five Quarters of the Orange" is a disturbing, sometimes beautiful and sometimes cruel book. It features two parallel timelines, Framboise Dartigen is at the heart of both. We see her as an old woman reestablishing herself in her childhood village, and as a strong-willed child growing up in the French countryside under World War II. As an old widow, Framboise returns to the place where she grew up. She starts to explore the recipe collection she inherited from her mother, that served both as a diary with random entries and as a cookbook. As she delves into her mother's handwritten notes, in a pidgin language only she herself and her children could decipher, childhood memories resurface. The reader is taken on a journey ripe with the angst and joys of growing up, while we follow the old Framboise in her struggle to keep old secrets away from young and greedy relatives.RPS
Detaljer
- Forlag
- Black Swan
- Innbinding
- Paperback
- Språk
- Engelsk
- Sider
- 432
- ISBN
- 9780552998833
- Utgivelsesår
- 2002
- Format
- 20 x 13 cm
- Priser
- WH Smith Book Awards: Fiction 2002
Om forfatteren
Born in Barnsley, of an English father and a French mother, she spent fifteen years as a teacher before (somewhat reluctantly) becoming a full-time writer. In 2013, she was awarded an MBE, and in 2022 an OBE. She lives in Yorkshire, plays bass and flute in a band first formed when she was sixteen, and works in a shed in her garden. She is an honorary Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and served for four years as Chair of the Society of Authors. She also has a form of synaesthesia which enables her to smell colours. Red, she says, smells of chocolate.
Anmeldelser
«Her strongest writing yet: as tangy and sometimes bitter as Chocolat was smooth»
Independent
«Outstanding ... beautifully written»
Daily Mail
«Joanne Harris a naturally sensuous writer, but her latest book has a dark core...Her descriptive and narrative talents are put to a profounder use...This gripping tale is bound to be made into a film. It's as vivid a journey through human cruelty and kindness as I've read this year»
Daily Telegraph
«Harris indulges her love of rich and mouthwatering descriptive passages, appealing to the senses ... Thoroughly enjoyable»
Observer
«Just as she did in Chocolat, Harris indulges her love of rich and mouth-watering descriptive passages, appealing to the senses with seductively foreign names, and evoking the textures and smells of food. These descriptions are suffused with a child's wide-eyed wonder that lends the story a magical quality, almost like a folk tale or a children's story. Even having the Occupation as a backdrop, Harris sets out to tell a story that proves, like her previous books, to be thoroughly enjoyable...»
Guardian