Bitter Chocolate - Lesley Lokko

I read Lokko's Sundowners a few years ago and quite liked it, so I hoped this would be as enjoyable. It's not a cerebral read (and sometimes that's just what's needed), but a light-ish novel, bit chunky, about the lives and loves of three girls, Laure, Ameline and Melanie. Set in Haiti, Chicago, L.A and London, it follows them as they grow up, lose their innocence and find their places in the world. At times, it seems to focus more on Laure than any of the other characters, and seems to struggle to keep three narrative threads going, especially when it's unclear how they're going to intersect in any way. Laure and Ameline grow up together in the heat of Petionville, Haiti, Laure is the granddaughter of a formerly wealthy family, and Ameline a servant, but they're closer than sisters, until one day they're divided and Laure moves to Chicago to live with her mother. It's difficult at first to see how they will meet up again and what circumstances their lives will be in. It's even harder to see how Melanie ties into any of this, and indeed she doesn't until the last third of the book, making her storyline slightly discordant with the rest.
Overall it was a fairly un-taxing read, perfect for the summer's heat, when you just want something gentle to read. People who enjoy slightly more intelligent "chick lit" (oh how I loathe that term) will probably enjoy this.