Holy Fools

Holy Fools is Joanne Harris's most enjoyable novel yet, a beautifully detailed and sharply observed piece that emotionally moves the reader unlike anything she has tackled before. The immense success of Chocolat and Coastliners has made Harris one of the most cherished authors at work today, and each new book is something of an event.

Holy Fools is set in 17th century France, and the central character is Juliette, a former actress and rope dancer who has given up her travelling life to become a teaching nun at a remote abbey. Juliette has settled with her young daughter into an existence very different from that she knew, and she finds comfort from the advice of the wise and friendly abbess.

Harris brilliantly delineates both phases of her heroine's life: the colourful earlier era and the new demands of the semi-cloistered life. Things change radically when the abbess dies and her place is taken by an 11-year-old girl whose appetite for reform quickly destroys much that Juliet has come to love in her new life. What makes the book so refreshingly original is not just the unusual structure (the heroine's dual life alone is handled with radiant detail), but the surprising new trajectory the narrative takes after the death of the abbess, as everything Juliette was used to begins to go wrong.

We become involved in every minor crisis, however much we question that the religious life is the answer to her problems. Juliette is a brilliantly drawn character, and the plotting of this ambitious novel is both thoughtful and invigorating, while the basic theme--the ploys we all use to distract ourselves from the painful realities of existence--is handled with subtlety. --Barry Forshaw

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Nice, easy read - Rated
Not at all the sort of book I'd usually pick up, but I read this on a recommendation and found that after I got into it I couldn't put it down - I ended up polishing it off in a day. The fact that it was set in the 1610s would usually have put me off, but I found that I could suspend my disbelief after the first few chapters, primarily because of the fascinating way Harris drew the characters: they were complex and subtlely written, and reminded me of people I have known.

Despite my prejudice, I also thought that the differing perspectives worked well, as the narrative flits between two of the main characters. I don't usually like this technique as I find that too many authors do it just for the sake of it, but here it really added to the tension of plot, which kept me guessing right to the end.

Most impressive was that even though I should have seen certain things coming - one of the thematic strands is foresight and a lot is hinted at before it is revealed - I was really gripped by the plot and what was going to happen next. A cracking read.

foolish nonsense! - Rated
I found this book tedious and ridiculous. The characters, especially the nuns, were little more than caricatures and there was no sense of history at all. The ending was just daft!!!

Disappointing compared to her other works - Rated
I was really keen to read this novel as I really enjoyed Blackberry Wine and Five quarters of the orange, which I think are outstanding works of fiction. However, this book just didn't do the same for me! I was impressed by the historical detail and the research that must have gone into it, but I found it to be trying too hard to be mysterious and other worldly. It seemed to be trying to evoke Angela Carter's works, but in a way that was much less masterly. I found some parts ridiculous and I thought the character of De Merle was little better than a caricuture. Sorry!!

An OK Read.... - Rated
Being a Joanne Harris fan, I was really looking forward to reading this book. One of the things I like in her books is she rights about paganism. She is my most favourite author of pagan fiction. However, this is not one of my favourite books.

I liked the main character Juliette, I felt for her at times and was enjoying her story. I felt like I could connect with her and visualise what was going on around her. I really liked her.

Lemerle, I didn't connect with. I found his part in the story interesting and wanted to read more, but he didn't 'grab' me.

The abby with the other Nuns, I didn't really feel I could connect with. I found this part of the story hard to get into.

Basically the story is set in the seventeenth century when witch trials were taking place. Juliette who is part of a traveling circus, is forced to take cover in an Abby with her daughter Fleur. Lemerle a man, from her past turns up and he takes Fleur away from her mother. Juliette's struggle to get her daughter back begins.

I'm glad I read this book, there were times I felt it was boring in places and hard to get into. But, there was something there that made me want to pick the book up to find out more. So I kept with it.

So to sum it up, it was an OK read. Not one of my favourites. One that will sit on my shelf till I read it again. I sort of feel like this is the sort of book I'd enjoy more the second time around.

Interesting - Rated
I had previously enjoyed reading 'Chocolat' and upon reading the blurb thought this book definitely worth a read.

It starts a little slowly and I confess myself a little confused in places, but one does get into it eventually.

Ultimately it was a good book, but whilst I respect Joanne Harris' beliefs and interests in paganism, the extent to which they feature in this book frankly borders on tiresome. The ending I PERSONALLY found left a little to be desired really, but as I said, worth a read.