Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris

So I went on a bit of a binge with the Joanne Harris books this month. She is just so great. This particular book focuses on a family of four -- three children and their mother, who gets strange attacks. They live in France (go figure) during the Nazi occupation, and something terrible happens, which gets blamed on the mother for years and years. I won't reveal the terrible happenings, but suffice to say they are terrible. Terrible.
If I were going to recommend a Harris book to a first time reader of her works, I wouldn't choose this little guy. Start with Chocolat, and then move on to Holy Fools or maybe Gentlemen and Players. But you can hold off on this one. Kind of a formula book, and although they have their place and time, she's not in her best form. The tension is only slight, and the antagonists are weakly played out.
On to the next!