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A review by book_concierge
The Girl with No Shadow by Joanne Harris
3.0
Digital audio read by Susanna Burney
In this follow-up to Chocolat Vianne Rouche and her daughter Anouk are living in the Montmartre section of Paris with new identities – Yanne Charbonneau and Annie – and a second daughter, Rosette. Yanne wants to eschew magic and keep her family safe from the winds of change. But on a particular Halloween the winds blow a new person into their lives – Zozie de l’Alba – a vivacious woman with lollipop-red shoes, and a hidden agenda.
This was an interesting sequel but I missed the humor and romance of the original. It’s a much darker tale and the way the novel is structured makes it a bit confusing. It’s written with three narrators – Yanne, Annie and Zozie – but there is little clue at the beginning of each chapter to let the reader know who is telling the story.
Still, it held my attention, and I liked the coming-of-age aspect of the plot. Anouk/Annie is a confused pre-teen who fights with her mother (typical) and feels misunderstood and unappreciated (typical). There were times I was seriously worried about her, but Harris gave me a satisfactory resolution. Not sure I’ll bother with book 3 in the trilogy.
Susanna Burney does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. She has good pacing, clear diction, and was able to sufficiently differentiate the characters when they were in dialogue with one another.
In this follow-up to Chocolat Vianne Rouche and her daughter Anouk are living in the Montmartre section of Paris with new identities – Yanne Charbonneau and Annie – and a second daughter, Rosette. Yanne wants to eschew magic and keep her family safe from the winds of change. But on a particular Halloween the winds blow a new person into their lives – Zozie de l’Alba – a vivacious woman with lollipop-red shoes, and a hidden agenda.
This was an interesting sequel but I missed the humor and romance of the original. It’s a much darker tale and the way the novel is structured makes it a bit confusing. It’s written with three narrators – Yanne, Annie and Zozie – but there is little clue at the beginning of each chapter to let the reader know who is telling the story.
Still, it held my attention, and I liked the coming-of-age aspect of the plot. Anouk/Annie is a confused pre-teen who fights with her mother (typical) and feels misunderstood and unappreciated (typical). There were times I was seriously worried about her, but Harris gave me a satisfactory resolution. Not sure I’ll bother with book 3 in the trilogy.
Susanna Burney does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. She has good pacing, clear diction, and was able to sufficiently differentiate the characters when they were in dialogue with one another.