E-Book Overview
The wind has always dictated Vianne Rocher's every move, buffeting her from the French village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes to the crowded streets of Paris. Cloaked in a new identity, that of widow Yanne Charbonneau, she opens a chocolaterie on a small Montmartre street, determined to still the wind at last and keep her daughters, Anouk and baby Rosette, safe. But the weather vane soon turns, and Zozie de l'Alba blows into their lives. Charming and enigmatic, Zozie provides the brightness that Yanne's life needs—as her vivacity and bold lollipop shoes dazzle rebellious and impressionable preadolescent Anouk. But beneath their new friend's benevolent fa?ade lies a ruthless treachery—for devious, seductive Zozie has plans that will shake their world to pieces.
E-Book Content
The Girl with No Shadow ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ Joanne Harris To A. F. H. Contents ✶ Acknowledgments iv PART ONE Death 1 PART TWO One Jaguar 35 PART THREE Two Rabbit 89 PART FOUR C hange 131 PART FIVE Advent 183 PART SIX T he Kindly Ones 259 PART SEVEN T he Tower 329 PART EIGHT Yule 381 About the Author Other Books by Joanne Harris Credits Cover Copyright About the Publisher Acknowledgments ✶ Once again, heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped guide this book from baby steps to walking in heels. To Serafina Clarke, Jennifer Luithlen, Brie Burkeman, and Peter Robinson and Michael Carlisle; to my fabulous editor, Jennifer Brehl, and her assistant, Katherine Nintzel; to Ervin Serrano for his wonderful cover design, and to Betty Lew for her elegant page design; to my terrific publicists, Sharyn Rosenblum and Jamie Brickhouse, and to all my friends at William Morrow/HarperCollins, New York. Many thanks also to Laura Grandi in Milan and to Francesca Liversidge and everyone at Transworld, London. Thanks, too, to my P.A., Anne Riley; to Mark Richards for running the website; to Kevin for running everything; to Anouchka for enchiladas and Kill Bill; to Joolz, Anouchka’s evil aunt, and to Christopher, Our Man in London. Special thanks go to Martin Myers, super-rep, who saved my sanity this Christmas, as well as to all the loyal reps, booksellers, librarians, and readers who ensure that my books are still kept on the shelves. ✶ ✶ PART ONE ✶ ✶ Death ✶ ✶ 1 Wednesday, 31 October Día de los Muertos It is a relatively little-known fact that, over the course of a single year, about twenty million letters are delivered to the dead. People forget to stop the mail—those grieving widows and prospective heirs—and so magazine subscriptions remain uncanceled; distant friends unnotified; library fines unpaid. That’s twenty million circulars, bank statements, credit cards, love letters, junk mail, greetings, gossip and bills dropping daily onto doormats or parquet f loors, thrust casually through railings, wedged into letter boxes, accumulating in stairwells, left unwanted on porches and steps, never to reach their addressee. The dead don’t care. More importantly, neither do the living. The living just follow their petty concerns, quite unaware that very close by, a miracle is taking place. The dead are coming back to life. It doesn’t take much to raise the dead. A couple of bills; a name; a postcode; nothing that can’t be found in any old domestic garbage bag, torn apart (perhaps by foxes) and left on the doorstep like a gift. You can learn a lot from abandoned mail: names, bank details, passwords, e-mail addresses, security codes. With the right combination of personal details you can open up a bank account; hire a car; even