This was a nostalgic read, set a few years before I was born, and as such was an interesting look into a very different time. The story itself was slow-moving, and dragged a little in the middle, but the characters were likeable and sympathetic, and I wanted the best for them.jk

A really insightful look into how the experience of becoming disabled affected the author's view of herself and of the eorld and how it led her into writing. Very interesting.

An inspiring story of an Auschwitz survivor.  Eddie Jaku describes the horrors of the Holocaust as it affected him and his family, and the years after his liberation. As well as the horror, it's a story of hope and survival.

This is a beautiful and worthy prequel to Chocolat. It's a little slow to get going, but it has everything we've come to expect from Joanne Harris: lovable and complex characters, more than a touch of magic, and totally lush food descriptions. A wonderful book.

Beatiful language, terrible people. The language draws you in and gives an almost dreamlike quality to the story. Which us fitting, as the caracters are living in a dream of wealth and privilege which makes them remote from real life and each other and even from decent behaviour. Sad in the end.