Title: The Girl With No Shadow
Author: Joanne Harris
Publisher: William Morrow
Pages: 444
Price: $24.95
In a Nutshell: Continuing the story began in 1997 with her popular book, Chocolat, Joanne Harris' The Girl With No Shadow features Vianne Rocher, the chocolate maker, and her two daughters, Anouk, 11, and Rosette, 4, as they move with a new identity to Montmartre Village in Paris to start another chocolate shop. Always driven by the wind in the past, Vianne hopes to settle down to normal life. She wants conformity and anonymity, but Zozie, a young and beautiful woman, offers to help her in the shop. She is a strong, dark personality who persuades Vianne to make her own chocolates again and she draws customers by putting her lollipop shoes in the window. There are many conflicts, including an older man who wants to marry Vianne and a younger man, a charismatic young gypsy, who shows up after an absence of four years from her life. Magic and fantasy are at the heart of this fascinating fairy tale for adults.