Hardback: 416 pages
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, France,
Publisher: Orion 2025
Source: Tywyn Public Library
First Sentences: 22 July 1993, I scattered my mother's ashes in New York on the night of 4 July.
Review Quote: 'A symphony of tastes and smells so glorious you almost find yourself drooling' THE INDEPENDENT
My Opinion:
Vianne is the prequel to 'Chocolat' and other books in the series. Her many fans including myself have long been hoping for this story.
As a young pregnant woman, whose mother has recently died, Vianne finds herself in Marseille, France. It's while living here that she discovers her love of cooking and the magic of chocolate.
What a wonderful story. A joy to learn more about Vianne who first appeared over twenty five years ago in the novel 'Chocolat' which is now a modern day classic.
Highly recommended as once again Joanne Harris will stimulate your senses with her descriptive writing.
Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:
Just twenty-one years old, Sylviane arrives in Marseille to start a new life, and charms her way into a job as a waitress in a run-down bistrot. Here, under the guidance of eccentric Guy Lacarrière she discovers the joy of cooking, a secret love affair and, for the very first time, the true magic of chocolate.
Yet as she starts to dream of making a future for herself in the town, she finds herself at the centre of a growing conspiracy that will threaten everything she's fought so hard for...
Joanne Harris (OBE, FRSL) was born in Barnsley in 1964, of a French mother and an English father. She studied Modern and Mediaeval Languages at Cambridge and was a teacher for fifteen years, during which time she published three novels, including Chocolat (1999), which was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche .
Since then, she has written 19 more novels, plus novellas, short stories, game scripts, the libretti for two short operas, several screenplays, a stage musical (with Howard Goodall) and three cookbooks. Her books are now published in over 50 countries and have won a number of British and international awards. She is an honorary Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, has honorary doctorates in literature from the universities of Sheffield and Huddersfield, and has been a judge for the Whitbread Prize, the Orange Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize, the Betty Trask Award, the Prima Donna Prize and the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science, as well as for the Fragrance Foundation awards for perfume and perfume journalism (for which she also received an award in 2017). She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022.
She is a passionate advocate for authors’ rights, and was the Chair of the Society of Authors (SOA) for four years. She is currently a member of the Board of the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS).
Her hobbies are listed in Who’s Who as: “mooching, lounging, strutting, strumming, priest-baiting and quiet subversion of the system”, although she also enjoys obfuscation, sleaze, rebellion, witchcraft, armed robbery, tea and biscuits. She is not above bribery and would not necessarily refuse an offer involving perfume, diamonds, foreign travel or pink champagne. She works from a shed in her garden, plays in the band she first joined when she was 16, and lives with her husband in a little wood in Yorkshire.
The biographical information and photo used in this post are with thanks to the following websites, where you can also find more information about the author and her writing.
Amazon Author Profile - Joanne Harris Official Website - Joanne Harris