2
" The chocolate mass is perfectly silky and stays at the right temperature; it slides, soft and supple, into the molds. Smooth, shiny bars of chocolate, eight millimeters thick; they glisten up at us, dark and inviting: Bite us, taste us, swallow us! Let us melt in your mouth!
The promise-laden snap when I break off a piece of happiness is like music, Chocolate Symphony No. 1. I let it rest on my tongue and wait as long as I can to swallow. The taste of the gods in the brownish purple beans fills my mouth until it flows over and spills down my throat. "
― Anne Østby , Pieces of Happiness: A Novel of Friendship, Hope and Chocolate
3
" Make sure you wear it on the left side. That means you're single and ready for new adventures. 'Left is for looking, right is for cooking.'"
Lisbeth giggles, almost blushes, and lifts her hand to her head reflexively. She's seen women on the street with flowers behind their ears, along the road, in stores, on their way home from the fields carrying baskets of cassava, the yellowish white root that's used in every meal. She's seen the red hibiscus, the bulging ginger blossom, the bewitchingly aromatic frangipani behind the ears of men too, but she wasn't aware of this secret code for courting. "
― Anne Østby , Pieces of Happiness: A Novel of Friendship, Hope and Chocolate
6
" Did you take part in the chocolate production directly?" she asks, without quite knowing why. Maybe because she can't imagine his bulky fists tinkering with soft caramel and finely ground licorice powder.
"Oh, yes. Every step in the process. White chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate." A much younger man smiles through the wrinkles surrounding his brown eyes. "There isn't a sweet temptation that doesn't lure me in."
Ingrid has to smile back, feels the optimism like a gust breezing through her. No, like a taste on her tongue! Wildrid can feel the saliva pooling behind her teeth: soft mint spreading out on the back of her tongue, salty caramel sticking to her molars. Chili chocolate burning the inside of her cheeks, rum cream with ginger melting down her throat.
"Pineapple truffle!" she says. "Mango nougat! Marzipan-covered kiwi!"
Johnny looks at her and chuckles. "I thought you said you wanted to start slowly and carefully?"
The others grow quiet and Ingrid stops, embarrassed by her outburst. An erotic poem wrapped in cellophane. "
― Anne Østby , Pieces of Happiness: A Novel of Friendship, Hope and Chocolate
15
" It's as if the light changes color when Maraia and Madam Maya are together. I heard them singing this afternoon. Maraia's high-pitched voice, and Madam Maya's with deeper and looser tones. They sat on the floor with two brown and green pieces of fabric between them, which they had folded into the shape of small animals with bodies and heads. "We sing for the turtles," Maraia said. She must have told Madam Maya about the princesses Tinaicaboga and Raudalice, who were transformed into turtles when they were kidnapped by fishermen from a village on Kadavu. They found a way to escape, but they had to go on living as sea turtles in the bay off the island.
Maraia knew the song as well, the one the women in the princesses' village sing to them from the cliffs on the beach.
The women of Namuana are dressed for grief
They carry their holy clubs, decorated in strange patterns
Raudalice, come up and show yourself to us!
Tinaicaboga, come up and show yourself to us!
When the women sing, the giant turtles come up to the surface and listen. "
― Anne Østby , Pieces of Happiness: A Novel of Friendship, Hope and Chocolate
