HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Coastliners: A Novel by Joanne Harris
Loading...

Coastliners: A Novel (original 2002; edition 2003)

by Joanne Harris

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1,5524211,455 (3.3)53
Fiction. HTML:

Joanne Harris writes fiction that engages every one of the senses: reviewers called Chocolat "delectable" and Five Quarters of the Orange "sweet and powerful." In her new novel, she takes readers to a tiny French island where you can almost taste the salt on your lips.

The island, called Le Devin, is shaped somewhat like a sleeping woman. At her head is the village of Les Salants, while the more prosperous village of La Houssinière lies at her feet. You could walk between the towns in an hour, but they could not feel further apart, for between them lie years of animosity.

The townspeople of Les Salants say that if you kiss the feet of their patron saint and spit three times, something you've lost will come back to you. And so Madeleine, who grew up on the island, returns after an absence of ten years spent in Paris. She is haunted by this place, and has never been able to feel at home anywhere else.

But when she arrives, she will find that her father??who once built fishing boats that fueled the town's livelihood??has become even more silent than ever, withdrawing almost completely into an interior world. And his decline seems reflected in the town itself, for when the only beach in Les Salants washed away, all tourism drifted back to La Houssinière.

Madeleine herself has been adrift for a long time, yet almost against her will she soon finds herself united with the village's other lost souls is a struggle for survival and salva… (more)

Member:slipperybins
Title:Coastliners: A Novel
Authors:Joanne Harris
Info:Harper Perennial (2003), Paperback, 368 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:fiction

Work Information

Coastliners by Joanne Harris (2002)

  1. 00
    Wildcat Moon by Babs Horton (jayne_charles)
    jayne_charles: Totally different stories, but whilst reading 'Wildcat Moon' I was constantly reminded of 'Coastliners'. Something subliminal there definitely
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 53 mentions

English (38)  Danish (1)  Dutch (1)  Spanish (1)  All languages (41)
Showing 1-5 of 38 (next | show all)
I love Joanne Harris and have read most of her books but this one was probably my least favorite. It is similar in flavor to many of her books but it didn't draw me in as it usually does. She always manages to bring the setting and people to life in a very realistic way while still peppering some romanticism and fantasy to it as well. She does the same here but, for some reason, it fell flat for me here. Maybe I just don't appreciate the detailed description of life on a small coastal town as much as I do detailed descriptions of chocolate. It is still an enjoyable read, though. ( )
  JediBookLover | Oct 29, 2022 |
Really enjoyed the story. It flowed well and I enjoyed all the characters. It's not my normal read, just a random pick from our library. A pleasant surprise, maybe I even look at some of her other books. ( )
  SteveMcI | Oct 4, 2022 |
3 stars was generous of me. No aspect was really strong here, though the setting did keep me reading. Also it was nice that, unlike in the last book I read, the English usage and punctuation were pretty standard. ( )
  Martha_Thayer | Jan 13, 2022 |
Set in a dying village on a French island, Mado returns after 10 years away, to a disappearing father and disappearing coastline. Out of towner, handyman Flynn, finally listens to Mado and puts a plan in place to get the village to build a reef and build hope too. ( )
  nancynova | Dec 27, 2021 |
Read in Slovene under the title of Peščene sipine.

A French girl comes home to her island fishing village and her father, only to find out neither are doing well, mostly due to hard economic situation.

A chick book, but interesting setting. ( )
  matija2019 | Jan 8, 2019 |
Showing 1-5 of 38 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors (11 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Harris, Joanneprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Benesch, VivienNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
de Vré, MoniqueTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Leveelahti, SatuTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Short-Payen, JeannetteTraductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

Belongs to Publisher Series

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main - John Donne To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, And Eternity in an hour. - William Blake
Dedication
to my mother Jeannette Payen Short
First words
Islands are different.
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

Fiction. HTML:

Joanne Harris writes fiction that engages every one of the senses: reviewers called Chocolat "delectable" and Five Quarters of the Orange "sweet and powerful." In her new novel, she takes readers to a tiny French island where you can almost taste the salt on your lips.

The island, called Le Devin, is shaped somewhat like a sleeping woman. At her head is the village of Les Salants, while the more prosperous village of La Houssinière lies at her feet. You could walk between the towns in an hour, but they could not feel further apart, for between them lie years of animosity.

The townspeople of Les Salants say that if you kiss the feet of their patron saint and spit three times, something you've lost will come back to you. And so Madeleine, who grew up on the island, returns after an absence of ten years spent in Paris. She is haunted by this place, and has never been able to feel at home anywhere else.

But when she arrives, she will find that her father??who once built fishing boats that fueled the town's livelihood??has become even more silent than ever, withdrawing almost completely into an interior world. And his decline seems reflected in the town itself, for when the only beach in Les Salants washed away, all tourism drifted back to La Houssinière.

Madeleine herself has been adrift for a long time, yet almost against her will she soon finds herself united with the village's other lost souls is a struggle for survival and salva

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.3)
0.5 1
1 16
1.5 6
2 34
2.5 13
3 117
3.5 30
4 88
4.5 5
5 39

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,186,758 books! | Top bar: Always visible