- Hardcover: 432 pages
- Publisher: Doubleday; First Edition edition (1 May 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0385603649
- ISBN-13: 978-0385603645
- Product Dimensions: 17.4 x 13 x 4.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 511,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Holy Fools
and over 900,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Holy Fools is Joanne Harris's most enjoyable novel yet, a beautifully detailed and sharply observed piece that emotionally moves the reader unlike anything she has tackled before. The immense success of Chocolat and Coastliners has made Harris one of the most cherished authors at work today, and each new book is something of an event.
Holy Fools is set in 17th century France, and the central character is Juliette, a former actress and rope dancer who has given up her travelling life to become a teaching nun at a remote abbey. Juliette has settled with her young daughter into an existence very different from that she knew, and she finds comfort from the advice of the wise and friendly abbess.
Harris brilliantly delineates both phases of her heroine's life: the colourful earlier era and the new demands of the semi-cloistered life. Things change radically when the abbess dies and her place is taken by an 11-year-old girl whose appetite for reform quickly destroys much that Juliet has come to love in her new life. What makes the book so refreshingly original is not just the unusual structure (the heroine's dual life alone is handled with radiant detail), but the surprising new trajectory the narrative takes after the death of the abbess, as everything Juliette was used to begins to go wrong.
We become involved in every minor crisis, however much we question that the religious life is the answer to her problems. Juliette is a brilliantly drawn character, and the plotting of this ambitious novel is both thoughtful and invigorating, while the basic theme--the ploys we all use to distract ourselves from the painful realities of existence--is handled with subtlety. --Barry Forshaw
Review
The author of the best-selling Chocolat has produced a moving story set in 17th century France. Juliette, a former actress and rope dancer, has abandoned her travelling life and, with her young daughter, becomes a teaching nun in a remote abbey under the care of the wise abbess. We look back at Juliette's life and her link with the sinister Blackbird named Le Merle, while the abbess dies and in her place is appointed an 11-year-old girl full of the zeal of reform. Everything begins to go wrong in Juliette's tranquil life. A gripping story from start to finish.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not Another Joanne Harris Masterpiece,
By A Customer
This review is from: Holy Fools (Hardcover)
Once again Joanne Harris has written a superb novel, in my opinion it’s the best one yet. She takes you to a small Abbey in a French village where life is comfortable, but something bad is in the air. King Henry is dead and a new Reform is on the way especially with the Church. Old wounds are opened and everyone’s dedication and belief questioned. The story is set over a six-week period where you feel you have read events for the whole day from morning vigils prayers to evening chapter prayers. The end of each day leaves you wanting more. (I couldn’t put this book down and was actually glad when my train was delayed in the mornings). The character Juliette is strong and resourceful, showing that education back then was as uninviting as the devil himself. The life Juliette thinks she is free from finds her and whether it claims her or not you’ll find out when you read it. The other characters are fantastically depicted and life at a nunnery comes across as amusing, difficult and lonely. I loved the detail and felt like I was at the Abbey myself watching events unfold, truths and lies told and emotions left unchecked. There is nothing that I disliked about the book and I recommend it to anyone who loves magic, mystery and suspense.
28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A review from South Africa,
By A Customer
This review is from: Holy Fools (Hardcover)
Best-selling novelist Joanne Harris returns to France for her lovely new novel, Holy Fools. Like Coastliners which precedes it, Holy Fools is set on the French coast, except this time most of the action takes place at an abbey where the main protagonist, Juliette – now living as a nun, Soeur August – has taken refuge with her infant daughter several years before. Set in the 1600s, it juxtaposes the sometimes extreme religious values held in France at that time, as reflected by the nuns at the abbey of Sainte Marie-de-la-Mer, and those of a rough and secular age, personified by the wandering players of the circus. Over both of these worlds hovers the spectre of Guy LeMerle, nicknamed the Blackbird – an enigmatic risk-taker who has played a large part in Juliette’s colourful past. Only he knows that she flew the high-wire as L’Ailée, the winged one, when they travelled the country as performers. Will he arrive at the abbey and, if so, will it necessarily mean doom for Juliette and her little girl? This solid novel (more than 400 pages) takes the reader on a journey back and forth between Juliette’s two lives and it is not clear until near the end what is going to happen. As in other Harris novels, religious dogma takes a battering and the free-spirited Juliette is in many ways reminiscent of Vianne Rocher from the gorgeous Chocolat. Harris writes in a fluid and engaging way, drawing the reader on like a piper ahead of a minstrels’ caravan. Definitely one for the book club.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Captivating,
This review is from: Holy Fools (Paperback)
I've been a fan of Joanne Harris since reading Chocolat, which is one of my favourite books of all time. I've read all her work and find her style of writing absolutely delicious.
In this book, she tells the story of a woman who tries to break away from her past by joining in a monastery in rural France, though her philosophy is much more gypsy than Christian. This book is darker and more dramatic than her previous work, but once again, the characters are both compelling and well-drawn, and the plot is unpredictable and captivating. Short chapters and a flowing storyline make it very easy to read - in fact, I didn't like having to take a break from it and ended up staying up very late one night to finish it. All in all it's a good book, but it's not quite Chocolat.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
