Coastliners

The new bestseller from the author of CHOCOLAT 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 energy that ruffles the local community. Divided squarely into two warring communities, the islanders' traditional feuds and superstitions persist. Even 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 reef to divert the current that has been gradually shifting the Salannais' beach towards their rivals on the other side of the island. In doing so, she sparks off a chain of events that brings not only hope but also revelations of a past tragedy. Within this layered, nuanced story, Harris (CHOCOLAT, 1999) expertly weaves her themes of family, community, and loyalty and shows how these values can be affected by money. Most impressively, she vividly depicts how a bleak, patchy strip of land can be synonymous with home. Joanne Wilkinson, BOOKLIST