It’s been about five years since Vianne Rocher and her daughter Anouk left the tiny village in which they lived in the book Chocolat. For the past four years, they’ve been settled in a small neighborhood in Paris. They’ve changed their names, and Vianne has toned down all aspects of herself: no more red clothes and shoes, no more vibrant conversation, no more small spells and charms to ward off evil and welcome good spirits. And no more chocolate.
That is, not her own. She runs a store that sells chocolate bought from a vendor. The woman who owns the store is elderly and does not participate in the business anymore. But when she dies, Vianne continues buying pre-made chocolate and toning herself down. Blending in. Half-heartedly dating the building’s owner. Avoiding the attention of the wind, for should the wind find her, she will have to move her family again. And Vianne is done moving. She wants a stable home for Anouk, who is now eleven, and her second daughter, Rosette, now four.
The original conflict in The Girl With No Shadow by Joanne Harris derives from Vianne and Anouk. Anouk remembers her vibrant, magical mother in the small French village in Chocolat, so why is Vianne so dark and dull now? Anouk doesn’t understand the dangers of being vagrants who must move any time the wind calls to them. The more Anouk distances herself from her mother, who has traded her shadow for contentment — implying a person without a shadow ins’t really a person — the easier it is for Anouk to be led astray by newcomer Zozie, a witch who fearlessly and openly uses magic, consequences be damned. And then Zozie convinces Vianne to turn this chocolate shop into a true chocolaterie and hire Zozie to work the counter. Will the wind find Vianne if she stands out again because she’s happy? I’m glad the chocolaterie came back because Harris’s food descriptions are magnificent:
It’s such a delight to choose a box, to linger over the shape — will it be heart shaped, round, or square? To select the chocolates with care; to see them nestled between the folds of crunchy mulberry-colored paper; to smell the mingled perfumes of cream, caramel, vanilla, and dark rum; to choose a ribbon; to pick out a wrapping; to add flowers of paper hearts; to hear the silky whisssh of rice paper against the lid —
While Vianne’s magic is domestic (scrying in chocolate, guessing people’s favorite confections), Zozie learned how to draw spells for Mexican gods in the air and on objects. Zozie uses her spells to manipulate people, occasionally for good, but mostly to get away with petty thievery, petty revenge, and manipulation. Given that there is a beckoning wind and witchy spells, Harris’s chocolate books would be considered magical realism. It’s done well, never letting the magic dominate the realism, which is as it should be. As the novel progresses, readers see that Zozie is more dangerous than we first thought. She’s like Vianne: a traveler who changes names frequently. But is Zozie simply the opposite side of Vianne’s coin, or is she something different entirely?
An interesting aspect of The Girl With No Shadow is that despite having largely the same cast as Chocolat, the tone is dissimilar. The characters are dark, the magic is dark, the setting is dreary. There’s none of the whimsy of the first novel. My book club members all mentioned missing the lightheartedness of the first novel, but on the other hand, there’s more tension in the second book. Is Anouk in danger? Will Vianne Rocher become herself again? Is it possible for the little family to lead bold lives, or should Vianne marry the landlord boyfriend have a “safe” life? What does Zozie want from the Rochers? There were so many questions all up in the air that you’re always wondering what happens next. All these clues that may nor may not mean anything is a big part of the fun of reading this novel. Everything is small and inconspicuous and there if you want it.
If you enjoy puzzles and mysteries, you’ll like The Girl With No Shadow. Harris spins out backstories slowly across most of the novel, so you put things together slowly and then they creep up on you. She used the same technique in Chocolat, teasing out what life was like when Vianne was a girl traveling with her mother and surprising readers in the end. In this second novel, there are repeated references to a place Vianne and her children lived sometime in the year after she left the French village, and readers are left wondering what happened there. What is “the Accident”? How did it change Vianne’s family?
The Girl With No Shadow starts on October 31st and ends on December 25th. The chapters are each dated, but because there are three narrators (Vianne, Anouk, Zozie), sometimes multiple chapters are from the same day. That did make this second novel feel slower than Chocolat, which is about half the length, and I wish Harris had moved along a little faster. It felt like Zozie was in the Rocher family’s lives for year, but it had only been weeks. Still, Harris’s second installment is highly recommended.
Grab the Lapels 
I loved the first book and didn’t know it was a series. I have no interest in reading the rest but I love that I get snippets from ye about what comes next. I am a nut who likes to read reviews about books I don’t want to read.
x The Captain
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I hear you. Sometimes I add books after reading a review, but what I realize is I don’t really want to read the book, I just like knowing it exists. This is why I have to clean out my Goodreads TBR so often. There are actually four books in the series. I’m reading the 3rd one, Peaches for Monsieur le Cure, now.
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I think I’d like to see the film adaptation rather than read this. However, I really liked your review, particularly your point that this one is “darker” as I like dark. On the other hand, whimsy done well is also enjoyable. Still, Chocolat had its darkness, didn’t it, with the domestic abuse side-plot, and the rejection of the Romany people. I think I’ve just gone round in circles. Does Pantoufle the kangaroo appear again?
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Pantoufle is a kangaroo in Chocolat the movie, but he’s a rabbit in the books. So far he’s been in Chocolat and The Girl with No Shadow, but not the third book, in which Anouk is 15. I know these creatures are more visible to children and especially when children are stressed/scared. Is there a film version of this book? If there is, I haven’t heard of it.
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Ah, thanks Melanie … I think I had heard he was a rabbit in the book but had forgotten. Makes sense too that he might disappear when she’s 15.
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I didn’t realise there was a sequel to Chocolat! I enjoyed the first book, but probably not enough to read any further, especially as it was the lightness of it that I liked.
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There are actually four books total. My book club is on the third one, Peaces for Monsieur le Cure (also titled Peaches for Father Francis). Vianne returns to Lansquenet! This one feels more like a mystery. Each book has its own tone, which is interesting for a series.
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Wow – I can’t imagine there being enough material for four books!
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This doesn’t sound as appealing as a reread of Chocolat did when I read your review of that, but perhaps I will change my mind after my reread – it’s nice to know it’s there if I want some more time with the characters, at least.
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There are four books altogether. Each one feels different: magical realism, dark/witchy, and now a mystery. I wonder what the 4th book will bring!
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Oh wow, I had no idea there was a second book in this series. This one doesn’t sound very fun, after having such a fun first book in the series, it would be difficult to accept this darker side of the characters. Maintaining the same atmosphere throughout a series is something I just assumed most authors would do, but I don’t read a lot of series either so clearly this isn’t the case!
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Chocolat was magical and light, The Girl with No Shadow was pretty witchy and devious, and so far Peaches for Monsieur le Cure is more like a mystery!
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⭐⭐⭐⭐
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Four stars! Hahahaha. Thank you for reading the book with me. Now we have to get to the bottom of the mystery with Ines in Peaches for Monsieur le Cure!
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I’m glad you’ve found a series that you enjoy so much and it seems to contain such variety in tone/style.
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I can see you enjoying this one, though I know you lean a bit more toward historical fiction. These works aren’t really historical, but they have that classic feel to them.
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This is sounding like an interesting series, though this book does sound darker than Chocolat.
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The third book (I’m almost done with it) is totally different in tone, too! I wonder why Harris did that.
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That’s interesting. I wonder if the author simply wanted to try different styles but also stick to the characters/ world she had created.
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While your review is very well written, I think I’ll stick with ignoring the rest of the series and only loving Chocolat. Dark and dreary isn’t my thing normally, let alone during a global pandemic.
I wonder if book three will also be quite different from these two books. It almost must be or there would be an odd book in the series. Or is it a quartet? It’s too late for me to Google this.
Ugh. I want fancy chocolates so badly now.
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It’s a quartet, and each book is a different genre (according to me and my book buddy — Hi, Biscuit!). It really will change your feelings about Vianne if you keep reading, so if you want her frozen in time, stop.
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I think if I return to this series, I’ll need to reread Chocolat, as it’s been 5 years and I don’t recall much but loving the characters and story enough to NOT want to continue. But I’m curious. and you know what they say about curiousity…
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That it ensnared you in a book series? 😬
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Exactly. And you’re reading books you don’t actually want to read. XD
I’m getting much better about DNFing, actually. I DNF’d a book this month! Yay me.
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