Peaches for Father Francis

This is Joanne Harris' follow-up (I think there is one in between, too) to Chocolat (which was also a great movie). It does not disappoint.

Vianne Rocher, now living in Paris, receives a letter from beyond the grave from an old friend. So she and her two daughters return to the village of Lansquenet where she caused such a stir so many years before, to find things are very different. The town is now split between the natives and a large group of Muslim immigrants. The townspeople never did take to strangers, but these strangers have built a mosque, and more and more of their women are dressing head to toe in black, and they don't seem to want to fit in with the natives... and Vianne's old nemesis Father Reynaud is at the center of all of the problems, it would seem.

I just gobbled up this story. It's beautifully written, haunting and mystical. The descriptions of the sights and smells are beguiling to the senses, and the magical bits are not too contrived. And the characters are just wonderful, so clearly drawn that one can almost see them.

But aside from all of that, this is a story about otherness, and acceptance, and finding ones place in the world. It's about how appearances CAN be deceiving, and how the thing that we think is hidden is often right in front of our faces. I highly recommend it.

Peaches for Father Francis