I was brought up to think that certain things are not real work and people don't make a living out of them. She gave up her job as a French teacher at Leeds Grammar School after she hit the jackpot with her third novel Chocolat. The advance was not one of the six-figure sums sometimes bandied about, but Chocolat was sold in 23 countries and made it on to the shortlist for the Whitbread Novel of the Year.
Shooting is due to start next month.
It's going to be really wonderful on the screen and of course it will affect sales of the book. Joanne describes the story as a spaghetti western, even though it is set in the French village of Lansquenet. A stranger rides into town, shakes everything up and confronts a man in black. In this case the stranger is a woman who opens a chocolate shop in the middle of Lent and the man in black is the village priest. I've given it up, not without a pang of regret.