Chocolat: A Novel

Joanne Harris

Nov 2000 · A Vianne Rocher Novel Book 1 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

Even before it was adapted into the Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp, Joanne Harris' New York Times bestselling novel Chocolat entranced readers with its mix of hedonism, whimsy, and, of course, chocolate.

In tiny Lansquenet, where nothing much has changed in a hundred years, beautiful newcomer Vianne Rocher and her exquisite chocolate shop arrive and instantly begin to play havoc with Lenten vows. Each box of luscious bonbons comes with a free gift: Vianne's uncanny perception of its buyer's 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 face-off between Easter solemnity and the pagan gaiety of a chocolate festival. Chocolat's every page offers a description of chocolate to melt in the mouths of chocoholics, francophiles, armchair gourmets, cookbook readers, and lovers of passion everywhere. It's a must for anyone who craves an escapist read, and is a bewitching gift for any holiday.

Ratings and reviews

Joanne Harris writes with vivid imagery, inviting you in to a bar stool at La Praline to observe everyday life in Lansquenet and leaving you with a subliminal taste of chocolate as you savor the pages; the book is so much richer than the movie!

Love at first bite. Joanne Harris is a very rare species of writer, one who leaves your mouth watering and your senses aroused. I will read anything this woman writes!

The movie was excellent, the book, spectacular!

About the author

Joanne Harris is the author of the Whitbread Award-nominated Chocolat (made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp) and eleven other bestselling novels. She plays bass guitar in a band first formed when she was sixteen, is currently studying Old Norse and lives with her husband and daughter in Yorkshire, England.