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Five Quarters of the Orange | 
 enlarge | Author: Joanne Harris
Publisher: Black Swan
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £6.98 (100%)
New (35) Used (405) Collectible (5) from £0.01
Rating:  65 reviews
Sales Rank: 8501
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0552998834
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780552998833
ASIN: 0552998834
Publication Date: January 1, 2002
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: 8vo - over 7 - 9 tall. 25% of the proceeds from this book will be donated to charity. Book Condition: Good. Binding: Soft Cover
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Joanne Harris' sensational novel Five Quarters of the Orange revolves around a recipe book, continuing the theme of culinary intrigue begun in Chocolat and Blackberry Wine. Framboise, the middle-aged narrator, begins her story in Les Laveuses, on the banks of the Loire: When my mother died she left the farm to my brother, Cassis, the fortune in the wine cellar to my sister, Reine-Claude, and to me, the youngest, her album and a two-litre jar containing a single black Perigord truffle. Framboise returns to the village where she grew up during wartime, and with the help of the recipes scribbled in her mother's album, opens up a small restaurant. However, she is desperate to keep her identity a secret even amongst the aged villagers with whom she played on the banks of the Loire in the years of German occupation during the Second World War. Framboise immerses herself once again in the peaceful rhythms of village life, pungently evoked by Harris's evocative prose. But slowly, reluctantly, Framboise begins to unravel the terrible wartime secret that drove her family away from the village. As she cuts between idyllic descriptions of the village and the increasingly dark memories of the war, Framboise admits: I know, I know. You want me to get to the point. But this is at least as important as the rest, the method of telling, and the time taken to tell. It has taken me fifty-five to begin, at least let me do it in my own way. This could be a description of Harris's prose itself, as it slowly and deliberately cuts between Framboise's fragile present and her happy childhood, destroyed by the tragic innocence of youth. Although Five Quarters of the Orange finds Harris on familiar ground to Chocolat, this is a much darker and compelling novel of childhood nostalgia and betrayal, and the need to confront the tragedies of the past before they destroy the possibilities of a happier future. --Jerry Brotton
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| Customer Reviews: Read 60 more reviews...
 Engrossing July 30, 2008
LindyLouMac (Italy)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Another engrossing read from Joanne Harris which although similar to `Chocolat `and `Blackberry Wine' it is a much darker story. Once again set in France this time a small village `Les Laveuses' near Angers on the banks of the Loire, during WWII and the present day.
The protagonist is Framboise Dartigen who has returned to the village after a long absence to live in the farmhouse of her childhood. Her mother Mirabelle Dartigen has since died and part of Framboise's inheritance was an album of memories and recipes. It is through studying this album that her memories of her childhood start to haunt her. Framboise has invented a new identity for herself, as she knows the villagers would look on her with contempt if they knew whose daughter she was. She uses her mother's recipes from the album in her restaurant which helps to make it the success it is. The consequent interference of her jealous and scheming nephew and his wife threaten to expose her true identity. However there is already one village friend from her childhood who guessed immediately who she really was and it with his help that she prevents this happening and unravels the mysteries that drove her family to leave the village during the Second World War. Putting the tragedies of the past behind her Framboise is finally able to look forward to a happy future, now she is no longer resisting the truths discovered in her mother's album.
As with all Joanne Harris's novels that I have read I highly recommend this one.
 Yummy April 3, 2008
Scarymushrooms (Dublin, Ireland)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
An absolute delight, really scrumptious to read, but beware do not read on an empty stomach you'll be yearning for the food that Framboise cooks up in this book. Set in a sleepy town on the Loire, Framboise or Boise as she is know narrates the tale of her younger days through her mother's cookbook that was left to her after she passed away. It is probably one of Joanne Harris' darkest novels, but her most beautiful in my opinion. She paints the french countryside with such vivid and beautiful descriptions that its easy to find yourself yearning for a small cottage in rustic France. Set against the back drop of World War 2 and present day, Boise is a rebellious youngster with a desire to catch the mythical pike 'Old Mother' that lives in the darkest parts of the Loire, something to occupy her whilst her older brother and sister attend school in a nearby town. The story takes place over a summer, where love is discovered, innocence is lost and heartbreak changes the lives of all involved. Stunning!
 ok February 2, 2008
b.lops (uk)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
this wasn't as good as I'd expected from the reviews. I couldn't warm to the characters and the main character Framboise was quite awful, without any redeeming qualities and rather frightening. Don't expect the warm sensuality of chocolat. Despite this I did want to get to the end so the story did have something to keep me interested.
Brilliant! August 29, 2007
Helena Cadoux
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
One of the most rewarding books that I have ever read- at times moving, funny and intense; a brilliantly woven tapestry combining love, real, raw characters and the bitter, sad resentment of a child for a mother that she cannot understand. Complicated, touching and an incredibly enjoyable read. I would recommend it to anyone.
A lovely experience May 6, 2007
Ms. Vanessa Wagstaff (UK)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
As usual Joanne Harris writes with the succulence of the undoubted pleasure of eating! Five Quarters is a lovely story and the character Framboise is lovingly created and portrayed, a young girl who makes friends with A German soldier in hiding in occupied France.
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