Allow me to start this post by sharing what a dream Pecos Wilderness is. This magical place is located in the heart of Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico, USA. I had wandered here while enjoying a cross-country road trip. With a car packed to the brim with necessities, including a sack overflowing with books, I felt limitless. After falling in love with northern New Mexico, I prolonged my stay and explored Pecos for a basecamp backpacking extravaganza. Shoved in my pack was Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris. Over the course of this multiday trip, I devoured this book with an insatiable appetite. Whether this was due to the delicious descriptions or the intoxicating storyline, who knows. But what I do know is that reading this book made the trip all the more memorable.
The Book
A look at the story
To begin, Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris is a chilling novel that uses food to tell a tale. The story follows the recollection of the Dartigen family, a widow and her three young children. After losing their father to the war, the children are left with their cold, unsympathetic mother. Her erratic mood swings and debilitating migraines, triggered by the smell and taste of oranges, create tension in the home. Framboise, a fierce, strong-willed woman plagued by the shame of her past, is the narrator of this tale and our heroine. We meet her as a middle-aged woman returning to her childhood village to make sense of her past. There is an ominous tone as Framboise takes us back to when she was 9 years old. From here, she builds up to the harrowing event that took place in her village. Along the way to this climactic affair, Framboise addresses the dynamics within the family, especially the relationship with the mother.
Outside of the Dartigen family is this little French village, occupied by German soldiers patrolling the neighborhoods. Although the children are aware that they should hate and fear the Germans, they find themselves fascinated by the soldiers. Childhood naiveté affords them the innocent lens through which they perceive the German soldiers. For they are unable to connect the loss of their father with the soldiers occupying their streets. Thus, they spend time sneaking into the village to spy on them. Eventually, a friendship with one ensues. Tomas Leibnitz, a young and attractive soldier, enchants the children with his gifts and tales. The children devour these offerings and, unknowingly, enter into a bartering system. In exchange for his treats, the children feed him information about the villagers. As a result, we pay witness to the inevitable consequences of this seemingly innocent act. Filled with metaphors, dark themes, and dynamic characters, Five Quarters of the Orange is a beautiful story that remains on your mind beyond the end.
A look at the author
I think it’s Five Quarters of the Orange [that is my favorite], mostly because of Framboise, the main character. She was such fun to write, and I enjoyed her voice so much; that stroppy we’ll-do-it-my-way-or-not-at-all manner of hers. I liked writing as an old person, too, because there are so few of them in fiction, and because they so infrequently have interesting roles to play. I wanted to challenge that general feeling that old people don’t feel passions, that old people can’t fall in love, that old people are patient, wise and resigned to their eventual fate. Framboise is anything but those things: she isn’t always easy, but she’s very tough and although she has experienced some terrible things, she has never lost her sense of herself. I got the chance to write about her as a child, too; but she is an odd, savage, self-contained child, very different to most depictions of children in literature. I like drawing imperfect characters because I find them more interesting; Framboise has many faults, and she is conscious of them, but I like her anyway, and I’m glad I could think of a happy ending for her that I could believe in.
-Joanne Harris in this interview with Book Browse
Joanne Harris is from Yorkshire, England, born to a British father and a French mother. Although she grew up in England, she felt more connected with her French family and resonated with their culture. She loosely based Five Quarters of the Orange on her grandfather and his stories of the war and German occupation. Harris was captivated by her grandfather’s recollections of co-existence with the Germans during the occupation. She was especially curious about the community reaction to their intruders. Harris felt inspired by these individuals and their responses to the occupation, which were not always what one would expect.
She weaves a story around these nuances within a community and the dissent created by war. She does this by touching upon the division between this widowed mother and her three children. As well as through the village characters in the story’s backdrop. In maintaining with the theme of food as a metaphor, Harris uses oranges to symbolize the division and hatred in the family. The provocation of the mother’s intense migraine attacks forbids oranges from the home. Yet, the children use it as a weapon against their mother to win freedom. With the mother bedridden from severe migraines, the children are left to run wild and satiate their curiosities.
Thoughts & Reflections
WARNING: some spoilers may be present
My connection to the story
“Oh, she understood wine, my mother. She understood the sweetening process, the fermentation, the seething and mellowing of life in the bottle, the darkening, the slow transformations, the birth of a new vintage in a bouquet of aromas like a magician’s bunch of paper flowers. If only she had had time and patience enough for us. A child is not a fruit tree. She understood that too late. There is no recipe to take a child into sweet, safe adulthood. She should have known that.”
– Excerpt from Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
Since the opening pages, I felt a kinship with Framboise. Her toughness, resiliency, and oddities resonated deeply. I was reminded of how I was as a child, growing up between two boisterous brothers. Being the only girl meant my brothers naturally gravitated toward each other, making me the brunt of their jokes. To navigate this sibling dynamic, I had to develop a hard exterior. I became just as ruthless with my actions and words. Despite this, the sensitive, emotional person within was only concealed, not erased. Beneath the image of toughness that I wanted to exude, I craved love and protection. In the same vein, the strength that Framboise possessed– the shell she developed to survive — concealed the connection and affection she craved. She could escape the instability of her mother and the German occupation through her developing friendship with Tomas.
This story speaks to the inner child within each of us, and how, as adults, we all too often mute their voice to move forward. Yet, as evidenced by Framboise, our inner child will continue to throw temper tantrums the more we ignore it. In addition, it also acknowledges the shortcomings of childhood innocence. It calls into question whether Framboise and her siblings are to blame for the events that transpired in the community due, in part, to befriending Tomas. This is exemplified by Framboise narrating as an older woman, finding the courage to face her childhood. There is a bit of contradiction as Framboise, the adult who has had a lifetime to process these events, speaks on behalf of her 9-year-old self. As adults, we may be able to reminisce about childhood stories, but we seldom can truly get into the mind of that long-lost self.
My views on the story
“He must have seen my theft. He could hardly have missed it.
For a moment, I stared at him, unable to move. My face was rigid. Too late I remembered Cassis’s stories about the cruelty of the Germans. He was watching me still; I wondered what the Germans did with thieves.
Then he winked at me.
I started at him for a second, then turned abruptly away, my face burning, the orange almost forgotten at the bottom of my basket. I did not dare look at him again, even though my mother’s stall was quite close by the place he was standing. … Behind us I sensed the German’s eyes on me; felt the pressure of that sly, humorous wink like a nail in my forehead. For what seemed like forever, I waited for a blow that never came.”– Excerpt from Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
Five Quarters of the Orange introduces a unique narrative encompassing those living under German occupation in France. The friendship between the Dartigen children and the German soldiers occupying their village was shocking. In retrospect, it is difficult to believe that there were people who sympathized with the German occupiers. Yet here was young Framboise and her siblings, fascinated by the German soldiers, befriending Tomas, compartmentalizing the war from the happenings in their small village. Despite my initial disapproval, the novel provided the opportunity to recognize the detachment with which I learned the history. For hidden between the lines of historical data are the real people who endured those times. This novel reminded me of the power of compassion and perspective. It encouraged me not to judge these characters for their flaws, but to find their human tendency to survive.
Overall, I fell in love with the journey of reading this novel. The plot haunted me with its rawness and complexities. And I adored paying witness to Framboise’s growth as she confronts her past. It is evident in the opening pages that this period of Framboise’s life serves as the ball and chain of her existence. She carries the weight of the events that transpired with her throughout her adult life. Despite these shortcomings, I admired Framboise for her resiliency. That in the face of so much horror, of carrying an immense amount of guilt, she continues to pick herself up and confront each day. Despite her inability to forgive herself for what happened, she is a survivor and lives with a savagery that was evident even in her infancy.
Closing thoughts
This was one of those books that crept into my consciousness between readings. While on the trail, with the book in my pack, it felt like a ton of bricks, calling me to its pages. I found excuses to take breaks to be sucked back in. I would recommend Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris to anyone interested in a unique story told by a bold heroine. It is the perfect novel for those who enjoy stories told from a curious vantage point during tumultuous historical events. If anyone has read this novel, or any of the Joanne Harris food trilogy, comment your thoughts below! I would love to hear different opinions and reflections about a story that left such a lasting impact on me.
Join me in 2 weeks for another Backpackers Book Club commentary.
Happy Trails!
Happy Trails!
