WHO IS WHO?

Zozie, Suzie, Rosette, Sophie, Anouk, Vianne, Annie, Yanne, Nanou, Roux, Chantal, et al, are just a few characters in the book I’m trying to read, usually only one short chapter at a time, not every day. Different characters tell the story—I think—without my remembering exactly who is talking. This can happen easily perhaps when the author is half French and sets her story in France, while writing in English with numerous avid readers among the unFrenched Americans. I am a fourth through the reading and if I had to write a paragraph about any one of the characters mentioned above, it would have to be about Rosette, who is “three or four” years old, seems highly intelligent, but has yet not spoken, though she can “speak” a tune by repeating a particular sound over and over. I feel she will likely play a more important role than she is now indicating.

Some of the above names may refer to one or more characters. And though perhaps the author has made the names clear, in a rather unclear way for us Americans, I’m getting only the bare bones out of this plot. A rich guy loves a poor woman and wants to marry her. But she may feel that would be the loss of what she holds dear, her kind of independence. But there are people, at least one, trying to control the situation. Didn’t I early on mention something about witchcraft? Nothing about that has really happened yet—I think—but undercurrents may be at play and the witch may become thwarted. I still enjoy Joanne Harris’s writing style. ♥