num_pages: 306
description: A timeless novel of a straitlaced village's awakening to joy and sensuality - every page offers a description of chocolate to melt in the mouths of chocoholics, francophiles, armchair gourmets, cookbook readers, and lovers of passion everywhere.Illuminating Peter Mayle's South of France with a touch of Laura Esquivel's magic realism, Chocolat is a timeless novel of a straitlaced village's awakening to joy and sensuality. In tiny Lansquenet, where nothing much has changed in a hundred years, beautiful newcomer Vianne Rocher and her exquisite chocolate shop arrive and instantly begin to play havoc with Lenten vows. Each box of luscious bonbons comes with a free gift: Vianne's uncanny perception of its buyer's private discontents and a clever, caring cure for them. Is she a witch? Soon the parish no longer cares, as it abandons itself to temptation, happiness, and a dramatic face-off between Easter solemnity and the pagan gaiety of a chocolate festival. Chocolat's every page offers a description of chocolate to melt in the mouths of chocoholics, francophiles, armchair gourmets, cookbook readers, and lovers of passion everywhere. It's a must for anyone who craves an escapist read, and is a bewitching gift for any holiday.
language: English
title: Chocolat
titlecomplete: Chocolat (Chocolat, #1)
characters: Caro Clairmont, Francis Reynaud, Vianne Rocher, Josephine Bonnet, Luc Clairmont, Anouk Rocher, Armande Voizin, Roux, Guillaume Duplessis, Paul-Marie Muscat
genres: Chick Lit, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Food, Adult, Romance, Fiction, Contemporary, Magical Realism, France
ratings_count: 123976
places: Lansquenet-sous-Tannes, France
series: Chocolat
awards: awardedAt: 915177600000
name: Whitbread Award
category: Novel, awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Creative Freedom Award, awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Whittaker Gold Award
publisher: Penguin Books