The Girl with No Shadow

Harris's haunting sequel to Chocolat gets a credible, though uneven, performance from Susanna Burney, who narrates the story of Yanne Charbonneau, the confectionary artist formerly known as Vianne Rocher now living in dowdy anonymity in Paris with her two daughters, Anouk and Rosette. Yanne and Anouk's perspectives alternate with that of Zozie de l'Alba, who helps in Yanne's chocolaterie and secretly instructs 11-year-old Anouk in the old mystical ways. Burney does a wonderful job with Zozie, infusing the would-be villainess with enough enchantment and enthusiastic esprit that it is entirely believable that the neighborhood is taken in by her. Her Yanne is less successful, perhaps partly because the character herself is flat for most of the story, only gradually finding her voice and her power. However, Burney brings a proficient French accent, a lovely singing voice for the recurring lullaby leitmotif and emotional power to the novel's final scenes about the bond of maternal love. A Morrow hardcover (Reviews, Jan. 21).