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Five Quarters of the Orange
 
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Five Quarters of the Orange (Paperback)

by Joanne Harris (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Frequently Bought Together

Five Quarters of the Orange + Blackberry Wine + Chocolat
Price For All Three: £17.97

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  • This item: Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris

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  • Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris

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Product details

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Black Swan; New edition edition (1 Jan 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0552998834
  • ISBN-13: 978-0552998833
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 30,314 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #12 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > H > Harris, Joanne

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Product Description

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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The Times
'Vastly enjoyable, utterly gripping'

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Five Quarters of the Orange
70% buy the item featured on this page:
Five Quarters of the Orange 4.4 out of 5 stars (71)
£5.99
Blackberry Wine
10% buy
Blackberry Wine 4.2 out of 5 stars (58)
£5.99
Chocolat
9% buy
Chocolat 3.8 out of 5 stars (158)
£5.99
The Lollipop Shoes (US title is The Girl With No Shadow)
6% buy
The Lollipop Shoes (US title is The Girl With No Shadow) 4.0 out of 5 stars (49)
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Customer Reviews

71 Reviews
5 star:
 (46)
4 star:
 (14)
3 star:
 (6)
2 star:
 (5)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (71 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Unexpectedly moving – occasionally tragic, 7 Jan 2003
'Five quarters of the orange' is a story of a childhood tragedy in wartime France, and the shadows it casts across the later life of the heroine Framboise Dartigen. Written so blandly the book appears dark and gloomy, but this is far from the case.

Wartime France is portrayed through the eyes of the nine year old Framboise who's unworldly insight into the German occupation is in sharp contrast to the more familiar resistance-focused found in history books. She lives a life of fishing and adventure against the backdrop of her mother's kitchen – a place of wonderful cuisine brought to life with great skill. What tragedy turns her into the lonely old women that she becomes is kept well concealed until late in the story, providing a suspense that forced me to keep turning pages to find the answer.

The nuance of the recipes that form a large feature of the book were lost on me, but I'm sure will appeal to those who know their kitchen better. For those, like me, who prefer a compelling and human story this novel is sure to deliver. A book to be savoured!

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45 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly good, 6 April 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Five Quarters of the Orange (Hardcover)
This book is a must for all Joanne Harris fans. It is better than 'Blackberry Wine', better even than 'Chocolat'.

It will also come as a surprise to 'Chocolat' fans, who, like me, might open it up expecting another sugary-sweet charming village comedy. The novel begins in a similar manner, with Framboise, now an elderly woman, settling into a French village, her old hometown. But throughout the text are scattered seeds of unease and doubt, and as the narrative slowly unravels, the reader becomes aware that she is hiding her identity and an ugly past.

The story very cleverly intercuts between Framboise as an elderly lady, around 60, and as a child of 9 in wartime France. It is the childhood memories which become the most intriguing - Harris brilliantly captures the difficulties of childhood - 'the cruelty of childhood' - and the poignant way her relationship with her mother disintegrates into hate and destruction. As a contrast to this is a love-crush she develops on a German soldier, which becomes incredibly touching. It was a stroke of genius that Harris explores this with a heroine who is only 9 - caught awkwardly between childhood and adolsecense, uncertain of what her emotions are, unable to label her feelings as love, or to know whether she loves him as a man, a father-figure, a friend, an idol, or a mixture of them all.

I won't say anymore or it will spoil the book and the surprises it throws at you, but the narrative slowly sucks you (rather like the victims claimed by old Mother in the river) into deeper, darker and muddier waters, resulting in violence, death and tragedy. Even the redemptive ending cannot really take away the bitter taste in your mouth at the end...but nevertheless, a brilliant book.

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46 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Well written but ghastly, 4 May 2002
By A Customer
I was introduced to Joanne Harris through Blackberry Wine which I thought was a wonderful novel, the sort that didn't leave my hand until I'd finished it. Five Quarters is a different kind of book entirely. The writing is still wonderful (even if you can have too much of a good thing with all that syrupy, sticky, sensual food imagery. I hope that Harris and Nigella Lawson never collaborate on a book!) but the character are a truly awful bunch and while I could raise sympathy for some of them, I couldn't like any of them and was very glad to say goodbye at the end of the book. The story itself moves through its stages like the slow, lazy, ominous stirrings of 'Old Mother' in the depths of the Loire. Boise is certainly not like any nine year old I have ever encountered. The way she behaves seems much older. Many authors stumble over portraying children with the correct nuances and psychology for their ages and Harris in my opinion definitely comes a cropper here. All that plotting and slyness with the orange peel smacks of adult subterfuge beyond the capability of a nine year old girl, even one mature enough to menstruate (very precocious indeed, especially 60 years ago and one of the elements that had me trying too hard to suspend my reader disbelief)
This is a disquieting, claustrophobic novel and although the ending is redemptive, the whole definitely left a nasty taste in the mouth of this reader!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best books i've ever read
I first read this book when it first came out a few years ago and i absolutely loved it. I've re-read it a few times since then and i love it every time; its one of the best books... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Sarah Louise Shields

5.0 out of 5 stars Awaken all your senses!
This is an incredble book. I usually prefer things based in England where this is a familiarity and a history I can connect with. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Rebecca

5.0 out of 5 stars A feast for the senses
I am head over heels in love with this book. Only a terrific author can write about something as appalling as war and occupation and uneccesary death but yet make you feel so... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Boof

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful and delighful novel
Five Quarters of the Orange is wonderful and fulfilling novel by Joanne Harris. The main features of the novel include a well defined plot, the characters and beautiful setting of... Read more
Published 3 months ago by P. DATTA

5.0 out of 5 stars Not my usual fare, but loved it.
I read 'Chocolat' and enjoyed it, but this is definitely my favourite of Joanne Harris's books. More bitter than sweet, she sets you down in a hot French summer during the Nazi... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Alder

2.0 out of 5 stars Too slow and unbelievable
I couldn't finish this book which is unusual for me, it was much too slow to get to the point and I only made it halfway. Read more
Published 6 months ago by S. Pinney

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book
Synopsis taken from Amazon:

Beyond the main street of Les Laveuses runs the Loire, smooth and brown as a sunning snake - but hiding a deadly undertow beneath its... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Ms. K. Marsh

5.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing
Another engrossing read from Joanne Harris which although similar to `Chocolat `and `Blackberry Wine' it is a much darker story. Read more
Published 11 months ago by LindyLouMac

4.0 out of 5 stars Yummy
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. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Scarymushrooms

3.0 out of 5 stars ok
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... Read more
Published 17 months ago by b.lops

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