Coastliners: A Novel

Harris, Joanne

ISBN 10: 1585472875 ISBN 13: 9781585472871

Publisher: Center Point Pub, 2003

Synopsis

Harris, Joanne

About this title

Review:

After three novels which centered around gastronomic pleasures, Joanne Harris's Coastliners focuses on more astringent joys. Sea, gritty sand, and adverse weather conditions replace Chocolat, Blackberry Wine, and Five Quarters of the Orange. Set on a small, blustery fishing island off the coast of France, it tells the story of Mado, a young woman who returns to her childhood home to find the local community torn apart by family feuds, bad tides, and murky political machinations.

Passionate, stubborn Mado, whose "head is full of rocks," tries to save the livelihoods of the villagers of Les Salants by urging them to work together to save the beach from erosion, both natural and man-made. The villagers, written with endearing panache by Harris, are an eccentric, curmudgeonly bunch, who eventually cooperate with the help of Flynn, a charismatic stranger with a shady past. He's not the only man of mystery in Mado's life; her father, taciturn Grosjean, has a secretive heart that's as "prickly and tightly layered as an artichoke," and local, wealthy businessman Brismand also seems to be hiding something. Mado does her best to unravel these mysteries, while attempting to keep a hold on her own sense of self in the claustrophobic, close community. It's not only the shore line that takes a buffeting. The villagers and the island are so vividly described that it's impossible not to become engrossed in Mado's story. Coastliners is a book about longing to belong, and Joanne Harris charts that emotional voyage compellingly. --Eithne Farry, Amazon.co.uk

About the Author:

Joanne Harris was born of a French mother and English father, and spent most of her childhood holidays on the island of Noirmoutier, in southern Brittany and Nerac, in Gascony, where she was immersed in French village life, folklore and tradition. She is the author of five previous novels, including Five Quarters of the Orange, Blackberry Wine and Chocolat. Joanne lives in Yorkshire with her husband and young daughter.

About this edition

• Publisher: Center Point Pub
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1585472875
• ISBN 13: 9781585472871
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 400