Buy Book "Five quarters of an orange" in Ukrainian

The story follows a young girl in rural France during World War II who experiences a difficult relationship with her mother and unhappiness with her brother, sisters, and friends, which will ultimately lead to a tragedy she will have to come to terms with later in life when she returns home.

The story is well written, intertwining the whimsy of childhood with the dark and dangerous. It took me a while to get into the story, but once I did, it kept me interested right up to the end.

As Joan Harris always likes to do, the love of food is scattered throughout, with recipes and descriptions that whet your appetite (I don’t recommend reading at night), though unfortunately not to the extent that it was in her book Chocolate, which is a bit of a shame.

The first thing I would like to note is how deliciously this book is written! I felt every emotion (which I think the author wanted to convey), every smell, and even every taste of the dish described in the book. This is the first time this has happened to me, but after that I wanted to re-read other books by Joan Harris to feel something like that again.

The book intertwines many aspects, for example, family relationships. They are difficult to understand, but I really want to find and understand the truth that the characters hide. The described episodes and scenes touch the soul, it is impossible to just read them and let them go.

I am pleasantly satisfied with this book, I will definitely read it 5 more times!

The beginning of Five Quarters of an Orange reminded me of the book “Blackberry Wine” by the same author. The main character, this time a woman, talks about her childhood, the events of which influenced her later life. But, as it turned out, this novel is more dynamic and even dramatic. After all, the protagonist, being already in a venerable age, recalls the events that unfolded in wartime. On the one hand, all the events described by the child, so sometimes they seem naive and insignificant, but on the other hand, against the background of the normal life of children and adults in the background of the German officers unfolds a real drama. Nine-year old child is not able to assess everything he saw as an adult, but our heroine was able through the long years to carry and keep the secret, which destroyed not only her family but also the lives of others. It’s not an easy story and it’s not one to be forgotten. I enjoyed the book. Told in a childishly naive way, it is fascinating, dives headfirst into the events of yesteryear and makes you think about a lot of things.

It’s just a wonderful book. An opportunity to penetrate the atmosphere.

I read it slowly, enjoying every page. The story is very extraordinary.

One woman raises three children alone. The children are all different in character. The strangest one is Framboise, because she looks so much like her mother.

The book describes the realities of life during the war. How they were searched, how children cooperated with the Germans to get sweets, magazines, and cosmetics in return.

We can say that the children behave very harshly. And the relationship between the children and their mother is, to put it mildly, not good. The mother is constantly busy and has no time for the children, or she suffers from migraines.

Also, be prepared to always be hungry while reading. Or, like me, you will want to cook according to the recipe in the book.

In general, I recommend it. It’s definitely worth reading!!!

“Five Quarters of an Orange” – this innocent title hides the story of a chain of fatal actions that took place during one summer in a French province during the German occupation, and eventually led to a terrible event. This event is still remembered in La Lévesque, as the old-timers pass on their knowledge and hatred to the young. That is why, when the protagonist Framboise, an elderly woman, returns to her native village in an attempt to understand her mother and rethink her role in that story, she hides her origins. However, everything that is carefully concealed always comes to light.

The novel has two time lines in which the story unfolds: the summer during the Second World War and the 90s. It is thanks to this that we can finally solve the mystery of the past, which continues to influence the main character’s present.

In my opinion, this is a book about cruelty. The cruelty not of war, but of people. And the author again shows that, unfortunately, children are the most horrible of all. The book really made a significant impression and, probably, I will now always associate it with bitter wild oranges, which are very similar to Framboise’s character and disposition.

The book “Five Quarters of an Orange” was my first experience of getting acquainted with Joan Harris’s work and it was undoubtedly very successful. I really liked the translation and publication by KSD. I think I will definitely read other books by the author that have already been translated into Ukrainian.