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 scandalises 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 pitted 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:[1] young Anouk and her imaginary rabbit, Pantoufle, were inspired by Harris's own four-year-old child, and Harris' strong-willed and independent great-grandmother influenced her portrayal of both Vianne and the elderly Armande.[2]
The Lollipop Shoes, the first sequel, was published in the United Kingdom in 2007 (released in 2008 as The Girl with No Shadow in the US)[3]
and in 2012, the second sequel was published, entitled Peaches for Monsieur le Curé. (Peaches for Father Francis in the US), followed by The Strawberry Thief, in 2019.
Plot
Vianne Rocher, with her daughter Anouk, comes to the small French village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes. They are brought by "the wind" during the last days of Carnival to open a chocolaterie, La Céleste Praline. The village priest, Francis Reynaud, is mystified by their arrival 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 dies of terminal cancer, 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.
The chocolaterie is an old dream of hers. She has an innate talent for cooking and a charming personality. She tries to fit in and help her customers. She starts to build a group of regular customers, including Armande, Guillaume and Narcisse, and, to Reynaud's dismay, she doesn't go out of business. Reynaud attempts to have Vianne run out of town, and he talks about her every Sunday at church. Some people stay away, but not for long. His conflict with her becomes his personal crusade.
Tensions between them increase when a group of about two dozen river gypsies, led by unflinching and stoic Roux, moor their boats on the nearby river and Vianne and several others welcome them, whereas Reynaud is against their 'immoral' and 'sinful' way of life. Reynaud manages to convince most businesses in the village to deny the gypsies their service, although Vianne welcomes them and befriends some members of the group, namely Roux, Zezette and Blanche. In return, they invite her to their own celebrations by the river. However, most of them are forced to move up the river when Monsieur Muscat starts a petrol fire, while Roux squats in one of the derelict houses nearby. He continues doing odd jobs for Vianne, Armande and Narcisse and also comes to Armande's birthday party with Zezette and Blanche. Armande dies in her sleep later that night, while Vianne and Roux have sex in the garden after everyone else has gone home.
Vianne also spends a lot of time and effort preparing for the "Grand Festival of Chocolate", to be held on Easter Sunday, with the help of Josephine, who moves in with her after being convinced to leave her abusive husband. The morning the festival is supposed to take place, Reynaud breaks into the shop and vandalizes the window display, but is caught by Vianne before he can reach the gift boxes in the basement. The festival continues with much success.
Characters
Vianne Rocher, single mother of Anouk who arrives at the village of Lasquennet-sous-les-Tannes and opens a chocolaterie at the beginning of Lent. She is described as taller than the average woman, with black curly hair, "dark eyes that seem pupilless", straight brows that would make her face stern if not for the amused quirk of her mouth, a little too big. Her favourite scent is mimosa. She loves Anouk very much, and her greatest fear is that they will be torn apart, mirroring her late mother's fear of being torn from Vianne when she was a child. She has a friendly, charming personality, but stubborn too, and she stands up for her beliefs, in a mild yet firm manner. She also has a keen sense of people and great powers of intuition. At the end of the story, she discovers she is pregnant by Roux, although they will not raise the child together.
Francis Reynaud, village priest who is in his thirties. He tries to make Vianne and her daughter leave as he believes her shop is inappropriate and better suited for the cities. He comes to believe that she is Satan's helper. He is fanatical and puritanical in his beliefs, due to the inspiration of Père Michel, his predecessor, and his troubled childhood. He has a strong sense of dignity, which might be mistaken for pride sometimes, an obsession with following the rules and believes himself superior in terms of moral strength and intellect as he observes with chagrined disdain in one of his confessions.
Anouk Rocher, Vianne's six-year-old daughter. A precocious child with an imaginary animal friend, called Pantoufle, that is also seen by her mother. She often plays near the river with the other children.
Josephine Muscat, the wife of Paul-Marie Muscat. At the beginning of the book she is a silent fearful figure, the result of the incessant brutal treatment received at the hand of her husband. She starts to hope after Vianne offers her friendship, and finally she leaves her husband. Vianne offers her a job and residence at her chocolaterie, arguing that if she leaves the town, she'll never stop running. Under her guidance, Josephine transforms, becoming stronger, more self-confident and charming.
Paul-Marie Muscat, married to Josephine, using her as his servant. He beats her often and he drinks too much. Under his father's guidance he developed a cruel personality that, coupled with his need for vengeance, made him incinerate Roux's boat.
Armande Voizin, mother of Caroline Clairmont who is in her early eighties. The first to anticipate the changes Vianne's arrival would bring. She believes Vianne is also a witch, though Vianne doesn't agree with the word. They become friends, due to a similarity in personalities and the freedom of spirit they both share. Vianne helps Armande reconnect with her grandson, Luc, and Armande helps Vianne after one of Reynaud's strong sermons. She has a secret love of underwear and the poetry of Rimbaud. It is revealed that when she was a very good climber, she would often throw things at passers-by from the trees. She has a strong disdain for Reynaud and some of the villagers that follow him blindly, who she calls 'bible groupies'. She has diabetes, which she refuses to acknowledge and properly treat and, even after almost going into a diabetic coma, continues gorging on chocolate on a daily basis to the point where she develops diabetic retinopathy and requires a cane to walk around.
Caroline Clairmont, one of the 'bible groupies'. Has a poor relationship with her mother, the result of which was banning Luc from seeing his grandmother. She is superficial and spiteful, and she fusses too much over Armande, a fact which the latter hates. She's quick to point out everyone else's mistakes but not her own and rarely does anything without expecting something in return.
Luc Clairmont, Caroline Clairmont's thirteen-year-old son, whom she raised with obsessive care. Luc has a penchant for the dark and bizarre which he's been hiding for fear of upsetting his mother. He has a stutter, although it lessens in the company of his grandmother, and when he's drinking at the party.
Guillaume, elderly gentleman, devoted to his sick dog, Charly.
Narcisse, local farmer and florist.
Roux, red-haired river-gypsy and the biological father of Vianne's unborn child.
It won the Creative Freedom Award (2000) and the Whittaker Gold and Platinum Awards (2001, 2012), selling over a million copies in the UK.[7] In 2012 The Guardian placed it at number 61 on a list of the "100 bestselling books of all time."[8]
Writing for the Literary Review, Sophia Watson asked: "Is this the best book ever written?" going on to say: "This is a truly excellent book, one of the best it has been my pleasure to read in the line of duty for years. Joanne Harris achieves everything a novelist should aim for, with no sense of effort or striving." Charles de Lint praised the novel, saying "Harris's prose is an absolute delight", and comparing Chocolat to Like Water for Chocolate,[11] although Kirkus Reviews described it as "cloying."[12]
Setting
The village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes is a fictional village in the Gers region of South-Western France, featured in the novels of Joanne Harris. Situated on the (imaginary) river Tannes, a tributary of the Garonne, it is described as "a blip on the fast road between Toulouse and Bordeaux". A small rural community of only a few hundred people, it is the setting of the novel Chocolat as well as Harris' later novels, Blackberry Wine and Peaches for Monsieur le Curé. There seems to be evidence to suggest that Lansquenet-sous-Tannes was based on the town of Nérac, on the river Baïse, where Harris spent some of her childhood holidays, and which is very close to a tiny village called Vianne.
The name of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes is ambiguous. The word "lansquenet" refers to an old card game. "Sous Tannes", or "under the Tannes" is also phonetically identical to the French word "soutane", a priest's cassock. This may be a reference to the traditionalist, Catholic nature of the community depicted in the Chocolat books. Lansquenet is portrayed as an insular, close community, run by gossip and the Church.
Most of the inhabitants are elderly; young people have mostly moved to the towns and cities to find work. It is an old bastide and retains the fortress mentality of its past. Outsiders are not welcome; old grudges linger; the inhabitants of neighbouring villages are seen as traditional enemies. Similarly in Peaches for Monsieur le Curé, the presence of a community of Moroccan immigrants, with their new customs and different religious beliefs, causes friction. Lansquenet has acquired a significant following among Harris' readers. In a piece written for the Telegraph in July 2012, she describes her own affection for Lansquenet, as well as that of her readers, many of whom have written to her to say that they have found the place, and therefore know that it exists.[13][14]
A sequel to Chocolat, entitled The Lollipop Shoes (retitled The Girl With No Shadow in the US), was published in 2007. A further chapter in Vianne's story, Peaches for Monsieur le Curé (titled Peaches for Father Francis in the US) was published in 2012, which was followed by TheStrawberry Thiefin 2019.
References
^"About the Book". Joanne Harris Website. Archived from the original on 11 June 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2007. Contains comments by the author.
