Framboise, now sixty-four, seeks to unravel her painful memories of a fateful summer during the occupation of France. Oranges, her mother's album of recipes and coded jottings, her scheming nephew and his wife, the names on the village war memorial, her childhood friend Paul, the deceptively tranquil Loire, a pike called Old Mother and Tomas the German soldier all play a part in this complex tale of love, deceit, misunderstandings, blackmail and death. A must.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 9 June 2001 ) |
