I am a massive Joanne Harris fan – she is one of my all-time favourite authors. I met her about 5 years ago at a book signing for Jigs and Reels (her short story collection) where they were showing the film Chocolat too at the Photgraphic Museum in Bradford, Yorkshire. I had already read the book Chocolat and loved it, especially as I have heard that what inspired her vision of the chocolate shop in the book was a little sweet shop in a tudor building in Wakefield, Yorkshire (where I grew up and now live again) as Joanne went to the Girls High School down the road and walked past it every day. I remember that sweet shop – the building was gorgeous. It is now a restaurant called The Cow Shed and I love it in there too; the food is amazing and the staff are great (am drooling thinking about it!). I think there is always a sense of pride when an author comes from the same town as you so loving her books is a bonus.
The first book I read was Chocolat and I have gone on to read six more of hers since and I can’t wait for the release of her new book (see this weeks Waiting on Wednesday for more details). So, here is my review for Chocolat and its follow up, The Lollipop Shoes (titled The Girl with No Shadow in the US).
What Amazon says: “Lansquenet-sous-Tannes–”a blip on the fast road between Toulouse and Bourdeaux”–and new home to Vianne Rocher, her six-year-old daughter Anouk, and Anouk’s “imaginary” rabbit, Pantoufle. They arrive “on the wind of the carnival”, and, a couple of days later, Vianne opens a luxuriant chocolate shop. “La Céleste Praline” bubbles over with the most tempting of confections, topped with an irresistible selection of rich, smooth chocolate drinks. It’s Lent, the shop is opposite the church (which Vianne and Anouk don’t attend) it’s open on Sundays and Francis Reynaud, the austere parish priest with the “measuring, feline look” is not exactly happy. As one by one the villagers sidle into the shop to sample Vianne’s concoctions, we learn of their characters and secrets, their loves and desires, their troubles and hopes. Sad, polite Guillame and his dying dog. Shoplifting, beaten Joséphine Muscat. And Armande Voizin, still vigorous and perceptive in her 80s, who can see Pantoufle, and recognises Vianne for who she really is. But Reynaud has his power base. And when Vianne advertises a Grand Festival of Chocolate to start on Easter Sunday, it’s all-out war. War between church and chocolate.”
What I thought: Set in a peaceful little French village, where the most notable event is the sermons by the local priest, the people’s tranquillity is abruptly disturbed by the arrival of Vianne, a woman set to challenge every convention the villagers know. She begins by opening a chocolate shop right in the middle of lent, and so a battle of wills ensues. There is no room for a priest and a witch in one village. One of them must go and the priest is determined that it won’t be him, growing increasingly frustrated as Vianne and her 6 year old daughters, Anouk, gently win over the locals.
Packed with colourful characters, snappy dialogue and a wonderfully detailed depiction of village life, Chocolat lures the reader in from the opening page. Add to this the sub plots of a woman’s liberation from her abusive husband, the prejudice encountered by a group of river gypsies, and an old woman determined to enjoy what is left of her life, whatever the cost. You can taste the chocolate as you read and I longed to be in that shop!!
A really magical read and one that I can highly recommend.
What Goodreads says: “Since she was a little girl, the wind has dictated every move Vianne Rocher has made, buffeting her from place to place, from the small French village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes to the crowded streets of Paris. Cloaked in a new identity, that of widow Yanne Charbonneau, she opens a chocolaterie on a small Montmartre street, determined to still the wind at last and keep her daughters, Anouk and the baby, Rosette, safe. Her new home above the chocolate shop offers calm and quiet: no red sachets hang by the door; no sparks of magic fill the air; no Indian skirts with bells hang in her closet. Conformity brings with it anonymity and peace. There is even Thierry, the stolid businessman who wants to take care of Yanne and the children. On the cusp of adolescence, an increasingly rebellious and restless Anouk does not understand. But soon the weathervane turns . . . and into their lives blows the charming and enigmatic Zozie de l’Alba. And everything begins to change.
Zozie offers the brightness Yanne’s life needs. Anouk, too, is dazzled by this vivacious woman with the lollipop-red shoes who seems to understand her better than anyone—especially her mother. Yet this friendship is not what it seems. Ruthless, devious, and seductive, Zozie has plans that will shake their world to pieces. And with everything she loves at stake, Yanne must face a difficult choice: Run, as she has done so many times before, or stand and confront this most dangerous enemy. . . .”
What I thought: I was so disappointed with this book; when it first came out I even bought it in hardback as I had absolutley loved Chocolat. I had practically been counting down the days to the release of this book and was left feeling incredibly underwhelmed by the whole thing.
The Lollipop Shoes is the story of Vianne and Anouk and Vianne’s new daugher who have moved to Paris and set up a chocolate shop there too but there is none of the magic of that first shop, it’s very dull and lacks sparkle. Also, the characters in Lollipop Shoes don’t even seem to be the same people they were in Chocolat; Vianne was carefree and happy in Chocolat and in this she is dull and conventional (I know she is supposed to be hiding from her past but I just didn’t buy it). And I found the storyline of Red coming back to find her almost ludicrous as their relationship in Chocolat never developed into what we are lead to belive it did in this book. For me it had none of the magic I had expected. Infact, it left me feeling flat as a pancake.
I would always invite someone to make up their own mind about a book but this really didn’t cut it for me.
What Amazon says: “The place is St Oswald’s, an old and long-established boys’ grammar school in the north of England. A new year has just begun, and for the staff and boys of the school, a wind of unwelcome change is blowing. Suits, paperwork and Information Technology rule the world and Roy Straitley, Latin master, eccentric, and veteran of St Oswald’s, is finally – reluctantly – contemplating retirement. But beneath the little rivalries, petty disputes and everyday crises of the school, a darker undercurrent stirs. And a bitter grudge, hidden and carefully nurtured for thirteen years, is about to erupt. Who is Mole, the mysterious insider, whose cruel practical jokes are gradually escalating towards violence – and perhaps, murder? And how can an old and half-forgotten scandal become the stone that brings down a giant?”
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