Five Quarters of the Orange is a novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by Joanne Harris

Joanne Harris

Joanne Michèle Sylvie Harris is a British author.Biography=Born to a French mother and an English father in her grandparents' sweet shop, her family life was filled with food and folklore. Her great-grandmother had an odd reputation and enjoyed letting the gullible think she was a witch and healer...

 first published by Doubleday in 2001.

Five Quarters of the Orange includes two time lines, alternating throughout the novel. The first time line begins in post-war France, following the life of the widowed Framboise Simons in her return to her childhood village from which her family was once expelled. There she must fight to conceal her identity, lest she be recognized as the daughter of the woman who once brought great tragedy upon the village. The second time line takes place in Framboise's childhood memories, during the German Occupation. In this time line, Framboise reveals her tentative relationship with her estranged mother and two siblings as well as her dangerous alliance with a young German officer. Five Quarters of the Orange deals with coming-of-age, the darkness of childhood, and most prominently, betrayal and the ripple effect

Ripple effect

The ripple effect is a term used to describe a situation where, like the ever expanding ripples across water when an object is dropped into it, an effect from an initial state can be followed outwards incrementally....

 it sets off.

As with her other works, Blackberry Wine

Blackberry Wine

Blackberry wine is a magical realism 2000 novel in the 'food trilogy' written by Joanne Harris set in the Chocolat universe. Writer Jay Mackintosh reached his artistic zenith with 'Jackapple Joe', a novel he wrote 10 years ago, based on the time he spent as a boy with a crusty, enigmatic old man...

and Chocolat

Chocolat

Chocolat is a 1999 novel by Joanne Harris. It tells the story of Vianne Rocher, a young mother, who arrives at a fictional insular French village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes with her six-year-old daughter, Anouk...

, Joanne Harris places strong emphasis on the symbolic use of food

Food

Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...

 and cooking

Cooking

Cooking is the process of preparing food by use of heat. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world, reflecting unique environmental, economic, and cultural traditions. Cooks themselves also vary widely in skill and training...

throughout the novel. For Framboise's mother, food is symbolic of her love for her children, whereas others utilize food as a weapon, using it for bartering and blackmail. Food serves its purpose as a gateway to the past and is a significant key to tying the two time lines together.

Framboise

Out of the three siblings she is most like her mother in spirit which allows her to take command easily of their small group. She used her mother's sensitivity to oranges to evade her and go to town with Cassis and Reine-Claude.

Thomas Leibniz

He's the german officer that usually traded with the gids. He first spots Framboise in the market in Les Laveuses stealing an orange, but doesn't call her on it. Later he's intrigued by her character.

Paul Hourias

Initially a childhood friend of the Dartigen siblings he drifted away as he remained "on the outside" of their game. He resurfaces when Framboise returns to town, decades later, and helps her to deal and cope with Laure and Luc Dessanges' campaign to make her sell them her mother's story. He's deeply in love with her, as he admits, that he'd cared for her "perhaps the same that you did for Tomas".

Mirabelle Dartigen

Framboise, Cassis and Reine's mother, she suffered from irregualar moments when she fancied she smelt oranges, and would go to close herself in her room.

Cassis Dartigen

The oldest of the children, after his father's untimely death, Cassis was left the only man in the house which gave him a temporary advantage in leading the other two siblings. His naturally weak and cowardly nature asserted itself fast enough and his defeat was obvious when Framboise stared her mother down and took control.

Laure Dessanges

Yannicks' wife who relieved the story of Mirabelle Dartigen to the Village of Les Leveuses
Reception=

Five quarters of the orange received a score of 3.72 out of 5 on Goodreads based on 7293 ratings
External links=

• Joanne Harris' blog
• Five quarters of an Orange on Goodreads