Description de l’éditeur
Wanneer Vianne Rocher met haar dochtertje Anouk in een klein Zuid-Frans dorpje neerstrijkt, lijken er magische krachten tot leven te komen. Met lede ogen moet de starre dorpspastoor Reynaud aanzien hoe Vianne uitgerekend in de vastentijd de dorpelingen verleidt met onweerstaanbare chocoladecreaties en haar warme persoonlijkheid. Wanneer Vianne aankondigt dat ze met Pasen een chocoladefestival wil organiseren, raakt père Reynaud buiten zichzelf van woede, en stevent de strijd in het dorp af op een dramatisch hoogtepunt...Joanne Harris schreef al vier boeken met Vianne in de hoofdrol, de bestsellers 'Chocolat', 'Rode schoenen', 'De zoetheid van perziken' en 'De aardbeiendief'.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The battle lines between church and chocolate are drawn by this British (and part French) author in her appealing debut about a bewitching confectioner who settles in a sleepy French village and arouses the appetites of the pleasure-starved parishioners. Young widow Vianne Roche's mouthwatering bonbons, steaming mugs of liqueur-laced cocoa and flaky cream-filled patisserie don't earn her a warm welcome from the stern prelate of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes. In Francis Reynaud's zeal to enforce strict Lenten vows of self-denial, he regards his sybaritic neighbor with suspicion and disdain. Undaunted, Vianne garners support from the town's eccentrics, chiefly Armande Voizin, the oldest living resident, a self-professed sorceress who senses in Vianne a kindred spirit. A fun-loving band of river gypsies arrives, and a colorful pageant unfurls. The novel's diary form--counting down the days of Lent until Easter--is suspenseful, and Harris takes her time unreeling the skein of evil that will prove to be Reynaud's undoing. As a witch's daughter who inherited her mother's profound distrust of the clergy, Vianne never quite comes to life, but her child, Anouk, is an adorable sprite, a spunky six-year-old already wise to the ways of an often inhospitable world. Gourmand Harris's tale of sin and guilt embodies a fond familiarity with things French that will doubtless prove irresistible to many readers. Rights sold in the U.K., Germany, Canada, Sweden, Holland, Spain, Italy, Finland, Denmark, Brazil, Israel, Norway, Greece, the Czech Republic, Poland.
