: Chocolat Novel plot and novel summary. What is Chocolat Novel about

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Chocolat (novel)

Chocolat AuthorJoanne HarrisCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglishGenreNovelPublisherDoubleday4 March 1999Media typePrint (hardback and paperback)Pages394 (first edition, hardback)ISBN0-385-41064-6 (first edition, hardback)OCLC40881895Followed byThe 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 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: 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, the first sequel, was published in the United Kingdom in 2007 (released in 2008 as The Girl with No Shadow in the US)
and in 2012, the second sequel was published, entitled Peaches for Monsieur le Curé. (Peaches for Father Francis in the US)

Plot
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 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, 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. Vianne, however, announces a "Grand Festival of Chocolate", to be held on Easter Sunday.

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