Bestselling author Joanne Harris shot to fame in 1999 with her novel Chocolat. It was a huge word-of-mouth hit and was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche.
She’s also written numerous novellas, short stories and game scripts, and has authored the libretti for two short operas, several screenplays, a stage musical and three cookbooks. ‘I just love telling stories,’ she says, ‘in whatever form that takes – the printed word, music, theatre. All these things are tied by narrative.’
Next month, Harris publishes a prequel to Chocolat, called Vianne, set six years before the original story.
Best books by Joanne Harris, in order
CHOCOLAT
It’s the book that made Joanne Harris a household name and for us, it can’t be beaten. This sensual story set in a small town in France about a woman running a chocolate shop is a now considered a modern classic.
VIANNE
This long-awaited prequel to the million copy-selling Chocolat begins six years before, as Vianne buries her mother in New York and escapes to Marseille in France, where she begins to learn about the power of food. Just as delicious and magical as the original!
A NARROW DOOR
While Harris is best known for Chocolat, her thrillers are just so good. In A Narrow Door, all Rebecca can remember about her brother’s disappearance when she was five is that he was taken by a man she calls ‘Mr Smallface’. Years later, and now headmistress at the school where he was a pupil, she pieces together what happened. I could not put this addictive, layered thriller down!
BROKEN LIGHT
This contemporary novel tells the story of Bernie Moon, whose ambitions and dreams have been forgotten by those closest to her – including Bernie herself. We follow Bernie as she seeks to take back control, with serious consequences.
DIFFERENT CLASS
This second book in the Malbry series (A Narrow Door is the fourth book) is a cracking psychological thriller that drips with menace. Set in a boys’ grammar school, where a teacher is being taunted by a former pupil, Different Class is tightly plotted and completely engrossing.
PEACHES FOR MONSIEUR LE CURÉ
In this novel, Harris revisits the characters and setting of her first bestseller, Chocolat. Vianne Rocher returns to Lansquenet in rural France to find the town much changed – the scent of spices in the air, women cloaked in niqabs and a minaret. Deftly tackling the subject of religious intolerance, this bewitching novel stirs the senses.
