Both Chocolat and Five Quarters of the Orange focus on a formidable female character struggling to keep her business afloat. They are both beguilingly rich in details and both focus on rural French food and community life. The story examines collaboration in occupied France as a terrible secret harboured by Framboise is unveiled. The books are almost a reaction against the '80s and '90s when everyone was focused on success and money. They are about the idea that we all need communities and how powerful these communities are.
Food is a powerful force everyone seems to love and relate to as well.
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