Joanne Harris

In tiny Lansquenet, where nothing much has changed in a hundred years, beautiful, unmarried newcomer Vianne Rocher and her young daughter sweep into the pinched little town on a wave of gossip. On the heels of the carnival, Vianne promptly opens a chocolate shop right across the square from the church, and thus begins to wreak havoc with the town's Lenten vows. Vianne finds herself embroiled in a battle for the town's souls with the local priest,...

Vianne Rochet returns to the French village of Lansquenet with her daughters, Anouk and Rosette, before allying herself with a desperate Father Frances Reynaud to reverse disturbing local changes.

This is the last of a trio of novels set in St Oswald's Grammar School ("Gentlemen and Players" and "Different Class"). It's an incendiary moment for St Oswald's school. For the first time in its history, a headmistress is in power, the gates opening to girls. Rebecca Buckfast has spilled blood to reach this position. As the new regime takes on the old guard, the ground shifts. And with it, the remains of a body are discovered. Rebecca will bury the...

The compelling new novel from the author of the bestselling Chocolat. Vianne Rocher has settled down. Lansquenet-sous-Tannes, the place that once rejected her, has finally become her home. With Rosette, her 'special' child, she runs her chocolate shop in the square, talks to her friends on the river, is part of the community. Even Reynaud, the priest, has become a friend. But when old Narcisse, the florist, dies, leaving a parcel of land to Rosette...

"When Vianne Rocher receives a letter from beyond the grave, she has no choice but to return to Lansquenet, where she once owned a chocolate shop and learned the meaning of home. But returning to one's past can be a dangerous pursuit, and Vianne and her daughters find the beautiful French village changed in unexpected ways: women veiled in black, the scent of spices in the air, and facing the church, a minaret. Most surprising of all, her old nemesis,...

"When you can find me an acre of land, Every sage grows merry in time, Between the ocean and the sand Then will you be united again.(Inspired by The Child Ballads 2 & 19) ... So begins a beautiful and tragic quest as a heartbroken mother sets out to save her lost daughter, through the realms of the real, of dream, and even into the underworld itself. But determination alone is not enough. For to save something precious, she must give up something...

When a single mother and her young daughter move to rural France and open a chocolate shop -- with Sunday hours -- across the street from the local church, they are met with some resistance from the rigidly moral community. But as soon as the townspeople discover their delicious products, their attitudes begin to change.