Book info

• Title
• Author Joanne Harris
• Year
• Genres

Thoughts

Mado returns to her home, a tiny island off the coast of France where two warring villages make life tough. Mado finds herself tasked with rousing the spirits of her friends, making amends with her father, and contending with village scandals and spiteful neighbours.

There’s a relationship aspect as well, with mainlander and outside Flynn. All the characters are incredibly complex - some set in their ways, some silent, some mysterious. It’s all very intriguing. Flynn himself has a twist at the end of the book and I didn’t guess it at all. I fell in love with most of the characters, even those that I loved to hate, and although at the start it felt there were too many names to remember, it didn’t matter as the story wound towards a conclusion.

Harris’ style of writing is so descriptive. I can always smell what a character is smelling or feel the wind off the tide just by turning the page. Wool, flowers, metal, chocolate, wine, everything she puts a pen to will appear in your senses. Her writing is slow-moving and heart-felt, no violent or graphic sequences involved or needed, just people and their feelings and their lives. It was enchanting.

Rating: Unrated