Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris

Strange, I didn't like most of the characters in Five Quarters of the Orange, and yet I couldn't put it down.

Apart from old Paul Hourias, most of the people you meet, including the narrator, are so uptight that you wish someone would spike the local water supply, The Men Who Stare At Goats-style.

Luckily, Harris's writing is as mesmerising as ever. You just keep reading because you want to know what's going to happen next.

What heinous act drove Framboise and her family from their village during the Second World War? It must have been a corker, because she still doesn't want anyone to find out who she is, more than fifty years later.

Why is Framboise's mother such a cow, and what confidences does she keep in her super-secret, private, ciphered diary cum recipe book? Come to think of it, why is young Framboise so catty towards her mother? (I know most adolescents have a tumultuous relationship with their parents, but 'Boise makes today's teens look like fluffy bunnies.) And why is she so obsessed with catching a slimy, giant pike?

The narrative skips between the present and World War II, between old Framboise's battle with her greedy relatives over her mother's recipes, and the slow-cooker destruction of young 'Boise's family in a village stifled by Nazi occupation. I'm not crazy about this sort of time-travelling writing style, but I was certainly never bored while reading this book.

The star of Five Quarters of the Orange, is, of course, the food. Food that is baked, fried, stewed, rolled, pressed, picked, and so fresh you can almost smell it coming off the pages. Reading something that Joanne Harris has written about food is second only to eating it.

If you like Joanne Harris, this book will not disappoint, but my favourite Harris confection is still everyone's favourite: Chocolat (after you finish reading the book, follow it up with the movie for even more cocoa-buttery goodness). 

After this, if you're still in the mood for chocolate, then pick up Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, another book that was faithfully adapted into a delicious movie. You will want to bludgeon the feckless Pedro with a meat tenderiser, but the female characters are amazing, as are the recipes.