The Lollipop Shoes (Chocolat 2): the delightful bestselling sequel to Chocolat, from international multi-million copy seller Joanne Harris

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And yet I wrote it anyway – because some books demand to be written, regardless of literary trends or likelihood of publication. I wrote it in just over four months, while working full-time as a teacher; sent it to my agent with no great sense of expectation; then went on holiday with my family and promptly forgot all about it. By the time we got home, it had already sold to a handful of countries, had landed a film deal and was the talk of that year’s Frankfurt Book Fair. Then into their lives blows Zozie de l'Alba, the lady with the lollipop shoes - ruthless, devious and seductive. Odinists (One Jaguar 5, p.75) are the members of a New Age movement who do not only worship Odin. According to the Odinist Fellowship, “Odinists value and esteem everything that sustains, promotes, enhances and enriches life”. They celebrate Nature, and feast rather than fast. The Oak King and the Holly King (The Kindly Ones 1, p.278), in Celtic mythology, battle each other at Yule and midsummer to see who will rule over the next half of the year. The Oak King wins at Yule, and the Holly King wins at midsummer. The sequel to Chocolat is a much darker offering. The story is set 4 years later and it's clear that Vianne is fearful of something. She and Anouk have assumed new names, their spirits have dwindled, and they seem defeated. The story examines the debilitating effect of fear and the dangers it can expose us to. It also examines the choices we make to obtain the things we need. I'm beginning to suspect that Joanne Harris' dialogue of right vs wrong, good vs evil to be a signature for her. I've read three of her books and don't intend to stop there, so I shall see if that idea holds true for her other books.

Tezcatlipoca or The Smoking Mirror” (One Jaguar 5, p.75) is another Aztec god, who had a nagual (i.e. familiar) that was a jaguar, which is probably why this part of the book is called “One Jaguar”.No longer living in Lansquenet-sous-Tannes, Vianne Rocher and her two daughters, Anouk and Rosette, are settled in the Montmartre quarter of Paris. Their lives are changed when befriended by the mysterious and free-spirited Zozie de l'Alba.

Zozie de L'Alba is a shadowy figure. She has many personas, but the one she uses to seduce Vianne and Anouk is charming, bohemian and free-spirited. She loves shoes, which she uses to read character (just as Vianne uses chocolate). However, underneath the charm, her ruthlessness and greed emerge. She is unusual among Harris' characters in that her motives are never made entirely clear - she remains a mystery until the end.I liked the book, but there were a few reasons I did not give it the five stars I gave Chocolat. Since I read that book right before this one, I remember very well how circumstances were in Vianne's life, and it seemed to me that in this book the author implies a great deal more happening than was suggested in the final chapters of Chocolat. Again, I can't give more details without spoilers, but trust me, there were a few times when I said to myself 'Wait, I thought THIS was the way things were in that village at the end, not THAT'.