Chocolat (novel)
First edition cover
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| Author | Joanne Harris |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
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Publication date
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4 March 1999 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 394 (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC | 40881895 |
| Followed by | The Lollipop Shoes |
Chocolat is a 1999 novel by Joanne Harris. It tells the story of Vianne Rocher, a young single mother, who arrives in the French village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes at the beginning of Lent with her six-year-old daughter, Anouk. Vianne has arrived to open a chocolaterie—La Céleste Praline—which is on the square opposite the church. During the traditional season of fasting and self-denial; she gently changes the lives of the villagers who visit her with a combination of sympathy, subversion and a little magic.
This scandalizes Francis Reynaud, the village priest, and his supporters. As tensions run high, the community is increasingly divided. As Easter approaches the ritual of the Church is pit against the indulgence of chocolate, and Father Reynaud and Vianne Rocher face an inevitable showdown.
Harris has indicated that several of the characters were influenced by individuals in her life: Her daughter forms the basis for the young Anouk, including her imaginary rabbit, Pantoufle. Harris' strong-willed and independent great-grandmother influenced her portrayal of both Vianne and the elderly Armande.
The Lollipop Shoes, a sequel, was published in the United Kingdom in 2007 (released in the U.S. in 2008 as The Girl with No Shadow).
In 2012, a further sequel was published, entitled Peaches for Monsieur le Curé (Peaches for Father Francis in the US).
Vianne Rocher, with her daughter Anouk, come to the small French village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes. They are brought by "the wind" during the last days of Carnival to open a , La Céleste Praline. The village priest, Francis Reynaud, is initially mystified, because Lent has just begun, but his confusion turns rapidly to anger when he understands that Vianne holds dangerous beliefs, does not obey the church and "flouts" the unspoken rules that he feels should govern his "flock".
Vianne, we learn from her personal thoughts, is a witch, though she does not use the word. Her mother and she were wanderers, going from one city to another. Her mother strove to inspire the same need for freedom in her daughter, who is more social and passive. They were born with gifts, and used a kind of "domestic magic" to earn their living. Throughout her life, Vianne has been running from the "Black Man", a recurring motif in her mother's folklore. When her mother is killed by a cab, Vianne continues on her own, trying to evade the Black Man and the mysterious force of the wind and settle down to a normal life.
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