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Book Review: Holy Fools (Joanne Harris)


Book Review: Holy Fools

Author: Joanne Harris


 

“From a certain height, everyone looks the same - men, women, villains, kings - as if rank and fortune were simply an accident of perspective.”

 

I remember I was kind of skeptical to pick up my first Joanne Harris' book Chocolat. By the time I turned over the last page of that book, I was an adherent Joanne Harris fan. And since then I have had collected all her books. This one, "Holy Fools", came as a surprise (which I shall eventually explain) and proved it that Joanne Harris is one of the best storyteller ever. 'Holy Fools' has every bit of expertise storytelling with every page that one can't miss oneself to amuse over the simplicity yet powerful narrative.

 

“Love not often, but forever.”

 

The premise of this book is set in 17th century France, there is the murder of Henri IV which resulted into massive upheaval in the country, a time where witch trails, regicide and religious frenzy was at the peak. Juliette is an actress, a rope-dancer who has taken refuge in a remote abbey of Saint Marie-de-la-Mer as Soeur Auguste along with her five year old daughter, Fleur. She has escaped a trail where she was accused for being a witch. A new appointment was made to the abbey, a ghost from her past, pretending as a priest, a man she has every reason to fear and hate. Her life begins to unravel, her hands bound by the newly appointed cleric and the new Abbess, Isabelle, the eleven year old child of a corrupt and noble family. Juliette fight for her daughter as well as to redeem herself a life free from the treacherous past she was forced to live is the entire story about.

 

 "A man who has never seen it may think he understands the ocean; but he thinks only of what he knows."

 

A Joanne Harris book means, you get the taste of authentic French countryside as well as food. Well, neither ingredient was added to this book. Don't get me wrong, this doesn't at all makes this book any less good. It actually makes it better. It shows the adept skill that Harris has. In her other books, Chocolat, Five Quarters of Orange, Blackberry Wine, it is the narrative which is infused with the French countryside description and the food associated with the plot which made the entire reading journey magical. But with "Holy Fools" Joanne Harris surprises all the readers without using two of her strong elements to make a story magical. She gets into a very simple yet multiplicative narrative which allows her to explore the mindset, mentality and the psychology of her characters in such an expert fashion that the readers are left in awe. 

 

"I had been alone and had never know it; had traveled, fought, suffered, danced, fornicated, loved, hated, grieved, and triumphed all alone, living like an animal from day to day, caring for nothing; desiring nothing; fearing nothing. Suddenly now everything was different....I was a mother."

 

Holy Fools with its historical plot surely is going to surprise her fans and I won't be surprised if there happens to be a development in adapting it into the silver screen. 

 

Holy Fools truly deserve a three and a half stars.

 


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