Product Description

When Grosjean's estranged daughter Mado returns to Le Devin, a tiny island caught like a crab in the shallow seas of northern France, she brings with her an air of energy and change that ruffles the crusty local fisherman. Divided squarely into two warring communities, the people from La Houssiniere on the near side and those from Les Salants on the far side, the islanders' traditional feuds and superstitions persist. More menacing is the powerful Brismand, whose ruthless interests threaten the very survival of Les Salants, the community to which Mado belongs. In enterprising spirit, Mado arranges to build a huge reef diverting the tide that has been gradually shifting the Salannais' beach towards their rivals, the Houssins, on the other side of the island, and steals it back. In doing so, she sparks off a chain of events that brings not only hope to the dying Salannais community, but also revelations of a past tragedy that still haunts the elderly Grosjean. Mado is determined to find out what plagues her mute father, and to stop the cunning Brismand whose business plans threaten her family's land. But her head is turned by the attractive, free-spirited Flynn. How far can she trust this flame-haired stranger, who claims he is without roots, yet whose connections with the island seem to run so deep? Inspired by the island Joanne Harris used to visit as a child, good battles against evil in this tale of bitter poetry that proves no man is ever an island. Rich with coastal imagery and smells, its twists and turns are salty and powerful, and utterly compelling.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #772058 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
After three novels which centred around gastronomic pleasures Joanne Harris's new book, Coastliners, focuses on more astringent joys. Sea, gritty sand and adverse weather conditions replace Chocolat, Blackberry Wine and Five Quarters of the Orange. Set on a small, blustery fishing island off the coast of France, it tells the story of Mado, a young woman who returns to her childhood home to find the local community torn apart by family feuds, bad tides and murky political machinations.

Passionate, stubborn Mado, whose "head is full of rocks" tries to save the livelihoods of the villagers of Les Salants by urging them to work together to save the beach from erosion, both natural and man-made. The villagers, written with endearing panache by Harris, are an eccentric, curmudgeonly bunch, who eventually cooperate with the help of Flynn, a charismatic stranger with a shady past. He's not the only man of mystery in Mado's life; her father, taciturn Grosjean, has a secretive heart that's as "prickly and tightly layered as an artichoke", and local, wealthy businessman Brismand also seems to be hiding something. Mado does her best to unravel these mysteries, while attempting to keep a hold on her own sense of self in the claustrophobic, close community. It's not only the shore line that takes a buffeting. The villagers and the island are so vividly described that it's impossible not to become engrossed in Mado's story. Coastliners is a book about longing to belong, and Joanne Harris charts that emotional voyage compellingly. --Eithne Farry

Review
The author of that amazing bestseller Chocolat (now a film) has come up with an accomplished novel about an island community. Mado, daughter of the boat builder Prasteau, returns to the island of Le Devin in northern France following the death of her mother. The island is divided into two warring factions, La Houssiniere on one side and Les Salants on the other, poorer side. Mado belongs to Les Salants, and decides to build a massive reef which (it is hoped) will divert the tide and help retain the beach. This stirs up all sorts of problems, including an old tragedy. On top of all this, Mado falls for a flame-haired stranger. It is a tale full of good things and the writing is hugely imaginative. A wonderful read and a truly powerful story.

Sunday Times
'Everything about her style is aerodynamic...charming, stylish and economical'

Customer Reviews

Another Harris
Joanne Harris is fast becoming an archetypical writer. Coastlines is set in yet another French village, with sturdy local characters, such as a silent father and a flamboyant love interest. Village gossip, secrets & tragedies from the past its all in there. The bad part of the novel is the first half: you start to think you've read it all before, and the story is not yet gripping or convincing. The silent father is annoying, and the narrator is against-the-villager-for-their-own better a little too early. You wonder why she bothers with all this. Some dialogues seem a little forced.The good part is the second half when the plot starts to unravel. The story gains some speed, but most characters remain a little flat. The plot, however, is an excellent one.All in all, though this is a classical Harris, it is not her best. Characters (especially the narrator) are less convincing, the story is little too made up (fooling the villagers with a miracle is a little too much for 2003) and the setting somehow doesn't come alive as much as in her other novels. Harrris style remains fluent, easy too read and highly entertaining. If you're a fan -> a must have. If not, stick to "Oranges".

Good but not blackberry wine!
It is true that my full enjoyment of this novel was somewhat limited due to the fact that I originally bought a cheap copy from a second hand book shop and half way through found a printing error had substituted the middle three chapters for a repetition of the first three. I was not happy! However I believe it does say something for the story that I went straight out and bought a complete, full priced version to catch up on the parts that I had missed.

Coastliners is good. There is no doubt about that. The plot is strong as are the characters. Anyone who read the first few chapters would be compelled to read to the end. Joanne Harris' empathy with the town or village community is particularly moving in this story. She has a remarkable ability to portray a small, secure yet claustrophobic community, she does it so completely that by the end of the book, you could recognise each character if they were walking dwon the street. At the same time as drawing on caricature so well that you recognise immediately the type of person she means, yet she has a sensitivity that draws deeper so that the reader can identify with the character as an individual.

For my own reading of this novel, I do feel that in concentrating on twist and turns in the plot, and the differing relationships between the characters, Harris has lost something of the succulent imagery that has become her trade mark. Strong flavours enhance her earlier stories, sweets, sours, fruit and wine, natural flavours that work with instinct and overpower the senses. Chocolat, Blackberry Wine and Five Quarters of the Orange are a dazzling gastronomic feast, tastes and smells vivid. Coastliners leave you hungry.

While I really did enjoy Coastliners and I could not put it down till I had found out the destinies of each character, afterward I still found something lacking. I have always idenified with Harris weaving the physical pleasures, eating and drinking, smells and scents, together with the emotional turmoils of year to year life. Coastliners deals with the ups and downs of life, without weaving the heady imagery of her earlier books. For the time being, Blackberry Wine will remain my favourite Joanne Harris novel, the images and characters through that story stayed with me a long time and for me it is the most potent and appealing of her novels (though I do think that may have something to do with the fact that it is narrated by a bottle of wine!).

Good but a little disappointing
I love Joanne Harris and I did enjoy this book but somehow it didn't quite live up to her other wonderful creations.

I find it hard to work out why this disappointed me. Something just seemed to be lacking. Perhaps it's because she has reworked many ingredients and themes she's used in previous novels, so it didn't feel as fresh eg: the idea of a stranger coming to an island (like Vianne in 'Chocolat') and stirring things up. It felt a little as if Joanne Harris has worked out a nice formula and was writing a book by numbers. Yes, her writing style is gorgeous and very readable and she stands head and shoulders above many other contemporary writers... but it just felt lacking the breathless energy and passion which characterised 'Chocolat', or the dark shocks of 'Five Quarters of the Orange'. I also found the love story a bit Mills & boon.

Even so, I gave this 4 stars because JOanne Harris is such an amazing writer. I will keep buying her books but maybe it would nice if she did a quantum leap and just wrote about something completely different with fresh themes & new slants.