Framboise inherited a cookbook from her mother—not much, considering her brother Cassis inherited a farm, and her older sister, René-Claude, a wine cellar with all its contents. But the trick is that in the margins of the book, alongside recipes for various dishes and herbal remedies, her mother jotted down her thoughts and confessions about certain events in her life—in short, she kept a kind of diary. And in this diary, Framboise attempts to find answers to the dark mysteries of the past.

'Harris has created a multi-layered narrative, sprinkled with delightful descriptions of French books, revealing the shattering effect of war on a fragile family structure.' — Publishers Weekly

'This is her strongest book yet: sharp, bitter...' — Independent

'If Joanne Harris didn't exist, she would have to be invented—she's a welcome antidote to the modern obsession with abstinence. Not for her the dubious pleasures of elegant, expensive mineral water or a rocket salad without dressing... Harris bombards the senses with the smells and tastes of the past... She is at once fantastical and real, sometimes wrapped in mysticism, sometimes firmly grounded. Above all, she is witty.' — Sunday Express