Author: Harris, Joanne
Title: Chocolat : A Novel by Joanne Harris
Publisher: Viking
Place: New York
Date: (1999)
Edition: 1st ptg
ISBN: 0670881791
Pages: 242+
Binding: Hardback
Condition: VERY GOOD very good dj
Book Id: MAIN006497I
About the book: In tiny Lansquenet, where nothing much has changed in a hundred years, beautiful, unmarried newcomer Vianne Rocher and her young daughter sweep into the pinched little town on a wave of gossip. On the heels of the carnival, Vianne promptly opens a chocolate shop right across the square from the church, and thus begins to wreak havoc with the town's Lenten vows. Vianne finds herself embroiled in a battle for the towns souls with the local priest, Father Reynaud, who tries to cast Vianne with her unconventional, gypsy-like ways as the village Jezebel. Soon she has effected a civil war in the little country town between those who prefer the cold comforts of the church and those who revel in the warm delights of chocolate.
But each box of chocolates she sells comes with a free gift: Vianne's uncanny perception of its buyers private discontents and a clever, caring cure for them. Is she a witch? Soon the parish no longer cares, as it abandons itself to temptation, happiness, and a dramatic confrontation between Easter solemnity and the pagan gaiety of a chocolate festival.
A literary confection that has already become an international sensation, Chocolat lingers in the memory like the taste of a splendidly aged Burgundy. It is an enchanting and timeless story about temptation, pleasure, and what a complete waste of time it is to deny yourself anything.
About the author: Joanne Harris, part French and part English, found her inspiration for Chocolat in her own family's history herself having been born in a sweetshop and being the great-granddaughter of a Frenchwoman known locally as a witch and a healer who once disguised herself as an apparition of the Virgin Mary. Harris teaches French in an English school and lives in Yorkshire, England, with her husband and daughter.