The Lollipop Shoes

I've just finished reading The Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris, published in the US as The Girl with no Shadow. It's a sequel to Chocolat, with some of the same characters.

I like the way that Harris tells the tale in the voices of her three main characters. The young girl Anouk has a very distinctive voice. I also enjoyed the more explicit magic in this book. Harris's magic is usually more ambiguously presented and it's possible to believe that there is a rational explanation for it. I don't think that is an option this time.

I really enjoyed this book, although it made me want to go back and re-read Chocolat. Towards the end I could hardly bear to put it down but at the same time I was almost afraid to read it in case the ending wasn't what I was hoping for. Now it's finished I want to go back and read more but there isn't any. As we say in my family, "my book has run out".