The magic in this book is a mix between the power of an open mind and a sort of strong intuition or powerful perception that nearly cross into the fantastic. The print of the Magical realism style is ever-present. Twenty years later, like Vianne herself, I have travelled the world; had adventures; seen places I once only dreamed of; encountered some of my heroes; explored a multitude of new horizons. I have written many books, translated into many different languages. But Vianne and Anouk were never far. There are literally no words to tell you how much I adore this book. In many ways, I actually prefer this to its prequel, Chocolat. The narrative is split between Vianne - who's in many ways not the woman she was four years earlier in Lansquenet -, Anouk - now eleven and telling her own story -, and a new and mysterious character called Zozie. I’ve been sitting in my chair thinking about what I was going to write about the story I just finished. The question, “what did you think?” always makes me feel like it is some kind of test and I am going to give the wrong answer. I try not to think about it that way. I always think that this is not the question that I should be answering. My question would be “what did you feel?” Ahhh, yes, that’s it.

After the confusion of the first couple of chapters, I settled into the story, and may I suggest to any publisher whose author changes narrators with each chapter that it is a big help to have a specific symbol for the narrating character above the chapter numbers? The Girl, whose name in this life was Zozie, had a drawing of a dark moon in clouds. Vianne herself had a cat sitting in a crescent moon. And Vianne's daughter had a floppy-eared rabbit in the moon. These little logos were wonderfully helpful. They allowed me to know who would be speaking in each section without reading for a paragraph or three before I realized it was someone else.I thought for certain that this book would fall into the category of "wannabe feminist magical realism ripoffs". You know, the fluffy ones that dress up sappy romance novels with cooking miracles, and relegate the magical to the feminine sex. The Lollipop shoes is a great sequel and I really enjoyed reading it. I said it before: Joanne Harris has a way of pulling you in and not letting go until you've finished to book. (She must be using magic.) Firstly, I liked the narration by Juliet Stevenson as it was clear, a great actress, and when voicing the male characters, I actually thought a male actor had been employed. Ms Steveson's performance of this story was superb and I will actively seek out other books she has chosen to narrate. The story is told through three characters: Vianne, Anouk and Zozie. Ms Steveson made it easy for me to determine to whom a particular chapter related in just the first few words; her characterisation of each individual voice so skillfully personified. I just cannot praise, or thank Juliet Stevenson enough for narrating The Lollipop Shoes, in unabridged format at that. And it is a coming-of-age tale – of Rosette, Vianne’s youngest child – but also of Vianne herself, who must now come to terms with the new challenge of letting her children tell their own stories, find their own skills, and listen to the voice of the wind. No longer living in Lansquenet-sous-Tannes, Vianne Rocher and her two daughters, Anouk and Rosette, are settled in the Montmartre quarter of Paris. Their lives are changed when befriended by the mysterious and free-spirited Zozie de l'Alba.

Okay, I have A LOT to say about this book. Firstly I would like to praise Joanne Harris - Chocolat was such a spellbounding success, I had no idea where this book was going to take me. Secondly, I love how Joanne took elements of the first book and really expanded them into an ‘urban fairytale’…a mystery with just a hint of magic 🪄 and thirdly… Santa Muerte (The Tower 7, p.383), literally the ‘ Saint Death’ of Mexican tradition, can be depicted as either male or female.

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Though I hadn’t originally meant to make Chocolat a series, Vianne and I kept meeting in the most unexpected of places. Some of that was because we shared the common experience of motherhood; and I’d always thought that if she were ever to reappear in some other tale, then it would be because my own version of Anouk (my daughter Anouchka) had somehow shown me the way to the next level. If Chocolat was Dark Chocolate with a creamy milk chocolate filling then The Girl with No Shadow is a Dark Chocolate truffle with a smooth creamy finish. Per my usual, since I'd seen the movie, I didn't take the time to read the first book (since I have so much to read for work, and this doesn't fall into the group of books in my field). Now I think I will, even though I can tell that it won't take me to a happy place, as does the film. Totem (The Kindly Ones 1, p.273) – referring to a spirit animal helper as a ‘totem’ is a rather New Age term.

Nothing unusual marks them out; no red sachets hang by the door. The wind has stopped - at least for a while. Then into their lives blows Zozie de l'Alba, the lady with the lollipop shoes - ruthless, devious and seductive. The Strawberry Thief is a book about letting go; and adulthood; and falling in love; and learning to accept the marks and scars that life inflicts on us. It takes us almost full circle from Chocolat, 20 years ago. Like Chocolat, it is a love story, not just between a woman and her children, but between a woman and her world – a world of which the horizons are only just unfolding. The Flayed One (Death 1, p.16) is a reference to the Aztec god Xipe or Totec, who was in the habit of wearing the skin of a flayed man over his own. At his rather bloody festival, the Aztecs killed all the prisoners that they had taken in war, and these would also be subject to flaying. And there they were, so, sad, so, melancholy, so not right, so ordinary? I wanted them to snap out of the gloom. I wanted to shake them and slap them until they could see what was happening and how wrong everything was. I wanted them to drink a cup of hot chocolate, because that makes everything better, right? I wanted to drink a cup of hot chocolate to make me feel better.

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Peaches for Monsieur le Curé was published in 2012. Its alternative title in the US is Peaches for Father Francis. It may not be the last of Vianne, but it marks a heavy punctuation point, if not quite a full stop, in the tale we both share. We have been together for a long time, Vianne and I. We have watched our children grow; we have shared our deepest fears. And now the winds are turning again, bringing new stories with them. Zozie is a much more satisfying villain than Chocolat's Reynaud ever was; and Anouk's sullen teenage resentment of (and at times, fierce love for) her mother and attraction to Zozie as a surrogate made for an enjoyable conflict. The story rolls along at a good pace, and switching between the three character voices of Anouk, Zozie and Vianne/Yanne from one chapter to the next works well for the most part. Anouk's voice is fairly unique, but there were places where Zozie and Vianne's became a bit interchangable. Keep an eye on the shifting image at the beginning of each chapter: it lets you know who's narrating, if you're ever uncertain. Magi (Advent 5, p. 230), that is to say the ‘Three Wise Men’ from the Bible are believed to have come from Persia (Iran). The word ‘ magic’ is derived from ‘magi’. The Magus is also a tarot card. Chantal one of Anouk's schoolmates. A snobby, gossiping rich girl who enjoys the advantages of having a powerful father.

The spells,totems,fables and stories about faeries and witches that Zozie and Yanne mention make the book more exotic and fascinating.It's no secret that I am a huge fan of magic realism-Joanne's book is a fine specimen of that genre.The writing is measured,yet intimate and warm,just like the characters in the book. There is something dangerously appealing about a slinky,chameleon-like villain and I loved Zozie's character the most(even more than Anouk and Yanne.). The bullying and name-calling that goes on in schools also forms a huge part of the story -atleast when the narration is done from the perspective of the eleven year-old Anouk. But I had no idea at the time what that funny little book would come to mean to me, and to my family over the course of the next 20 years. I had no idea to what extent Vianne Rocher and her daughter Anouk would grow alongside my own family, reflecting our adventures. The Lollipop Shoes is a 2007 novel by Joanne Harris—a sequel to her best-selling Chocolat. Darker than Chocolat—more openly mystical—this story is set between Halloween and Christmas. I enjoyed this more than Chocolat, perhaps because I had nothing to compare it to. Harris' writing style is just as easy to read as chocolate, and this book is just as amusing a morsel (and just as likely to make your mouth water). However, I found it more nuanced and a bit less obvious than Chocolat.

There were moments of hopefulness, glimpses of almost happiness, and snippets of laughter. Then, Bam! Then, more what? The Oak King and the Holly King (The Kindly Ones 1, p.278), in Celtic mythology, battle each other at Yule and midsummer to see who will rule over the next half of the year. The Oak King wins at Yule, and the Holly King wins at midsummer. A delicious urban fairytale, where killer shoes and Aztec myths battle it out with true love and the seductive power of chocolate' -- DAILY MAIL Odinists (One Jaguar 5, p.75) are the members of a New Age movement who do not only worship Odin. According to the Odinist Fellowship, “Odinists value and esteem everything that sustains, promotes, enhances and enriches life”. They celebrate Nature, and feast rather than fast. Zozie de l'Alba comes into their lives, bringing her magic and enchantment. She seems to be exactly what Vianne herself used to be: a benevolent force and a free spirit, helping people wherever she goes. But Zozie is a thief of identities, maybe even a collector of souls. She has her eye on Vianne's life, and begins to insinuate herself into the family.