Latest news with #Vianne
Daily Mail
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Bestselling Chocolat author JOANNE HARRIS on the disgusting quip Harvey Weinstein made to her at the Oscars
Sometime in 2000, the French actress Juliette Binoche travelled to Barnsley, West Yorkshire. She was there to meet Joanne Harris – then a schoolteacher who published novels on the side. The film rights to her third book, Chocolat, had been sold to Hollywood and Binoche had signed on to play the heroine, Vianne. She asked Harris if she could visit her, to chat about the part. 'Juliette came to stay in our two-bedroom semi in Barnsley,' recalls Harris. 'We didn't have a spare bedroom, so she slept in our kid's bed, tucked up with a toy dinosaur.' Today, Chocolat – a sensuous tale of a woman causing mayhem by opening a chocolaterie selling such delights as 'nipples of Venus' in a sleepy French town – has sold some 35 million copies worldwide. That makes Harris one of the authors to have joined the elite 'millionaire's club' – writers who have sold more than one million copies of at least one of their novels in the UK (others include JK Rowling, Julia Donaldson, Helen Fielding and Kate Mosse). This week, Harris publishes Chocolat's prequel, Vianne, which is why we are meeting at her home. I imagine the 60-year-old in a Mayfair penthouse. Instead, she and her husband Kevin, whom she met at Barnsley sixth-form college aged 16 and who now works as her business manager, live in a gorgeous but ramshackle five-bedroom Victorian house outside Huddersfield. It's 18 miles from where she was born, packed with quirky objects and backs on to five acres of woodland, where Harris writes in a converted shed. 'My mother thinks it's dreadful – she says it's old and messy,' laughs Harris. 'But I see no reason to leave Yorkshire. My family and friends are nearby, and staying here has kept me grounded. 'We have a little flat in London, which is very useful as I go up and down a lot. Apart from that I don't really have any indulgences. I don't splash out on fast cars and diamonds.' The daughter of an English father and French mother – both teachers, who raised her bilingual – Harris was born above her paternal grandparents' corner shop in Barnsley. 'They spoke no French and my grandparents in France spoke no English, so it made me an outsider wherever I went.' She longed to write, but her mother was horrified. 'She showed me all these books by 19th-century French authors who died penniless and said: 'This is not a proper job.'' So, after studying modern and medieval languages at Cambridge, Harris became a trainee accountant, but within a year she failed her exams and was sacked. After that, she worked as a French teacher at an all-boys' private school. Between teaching and raising her son Fred – now 30 and working as a lighting technician in London – she wrote constantly. Her first book, The Evil Seed, was published in 1992. 'It was a literary vampire novel, read by about 20 people. I was paid about £2,000 for it.' Her second novel, Sleep, Pale Sister, similarly sank without trace. Undeterred, she began drafting a third, set in France, full of lavish descriptions of elaborate meals. She sent it to a bigwig New York agent for feedback. 'He said, 'Who the hell wants to read about some French village nobody's heard of? Why are there so many old people and no young people having sex on a bearskin rug? And what's with all the food?'' Many authors would have been crushed. Not Harris. 'Most things I do are motivated by the desire to annoy people, so I wrote exactly the book that agent told me not to write.' In four months, she'd completed Chocolat. Initially, the agent was vindicated: no publisher wanted it. Harris went on holiday to Ireland. Only when she checked in on her mother did she learn her British agent was urgently trying to reach her from the international Frankfurt Book Fair. 'I called her, she said: 'Everyone is talking about Chocolat.' First the Italians bought it, then everyone followed.' Within a week, the book was sold to 23 countries and film rights sold for £5,000 (after its cinematic release Harris received a further £100,000 in royalties). 'None of the deals were big bucks but together were enough for me to take some time off teaching.' She asked for a year's sabbatical, only for the book to become a word-of-mouth bestseller. 'I kept seeing people reading it on the tube; I thought, 'This is crazy!'' After the film's release and Oscar nomination, sales topped one million. 'I realised I wasn't going back to teaching. When I told the school, they said, 'We all knew that. We've given your job to someone else.'' Newfound fame was often overwhelming. 'I passed out at two premieres and the Baftas. One minute I'd be fine and the next… my word! I thought something was wrong with me but now I think it was just stress; after a year it stopped.' At the Oscars, wearing a borrowed red Amanda Wakeley dress, she was seated beside Sigourney Weaver and behind Clint Eastwood. Despite the glamour, Harris was bored. 'It was like a very long school speech day at Madame Tussaud's, with diamonds.' She encountered Johnny Depp, a star of Chocolat who hadn't been on the film set when she'd visited. 'People kept asking for my thoughts on him, but as I'd never met him I said, 'He's not my type.' Then I met him on the red carpet. He said, 'Apparently I'm not your type.' But he was laughing.' Harris was surprised at how nervous Depp was. 'I used to think I was the most awkward person in the room until I met him. We bonded over that. I don't think he enjoyed being a sex symbol. From his work, and from what he said to me that brief time we met, I got the feeling he was on a mission to be somebody other than who he was.' (Depp has since been mired in controversy due to his high-profile court battle with ex-wife Amber Heard. On this, Harris says: 'I don't know what happened, it sounds traumatic for everyone.') At a Bafta party she encountered Chocolat's producer, Harvey Weinstein, now serving a 16-year prison sentence for rape. 'He said, 'I'm Harvey Weinstein, when I come into a room, authors s**t their pants.' I said, 'In that case, Harvey, you'll get my dry-cleaning bill.' He laughed and moved on. I got the feeling he liked it when people stood up to him.' After the menopause and surviving breast cancer in 2020, Harris says little intimidates her. Yet she avoids controversy, declining to discuss her announcement, two years ago on Twitter, that her son, Fred, is transgender, merely saying, 'Somebody had tried to out [Fred] on Twitter and was trying to blackmail me.' (She also won't be drawn on her spell as chair of the Society of Authors, when she became embroiled in a Twitter spat with JK Rowling, who had complained that Harris had never communicated with her about the death and rape threats she'd received from transgender activists.) After selling 30-plus million copies of a single novel, many authors might have put their feet up. But in the 26 years since Chocolat came out, Harris has published 29 more books, from fantasies to thrillers. There have also been three well-received sequels to Chocolat. Now there's Vianne, which gives insights into her witch-like heroine's youth. 'I thought it'd be fun to go back and see Vianne when she couldn't cook and had never really tasted chocolate. Many people assume she is me, but I rarely invite people to dinner and if I do the food's a bit experimental as I rarely stick to a recipe. Vianne also has an itch to keep moving. I like to stay in my shed in Yorkshire and write.'
Scottish Sun
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Win a copy of Vianne by Joanne Harris in this week's Fabulous book competition
IRRESISTIBLE READ Win a copy of Vianne by Joanne Harris in this week's Fabulous book competition Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) MORE than 25 years after it came out, Chocolat is still one of our fave books (plus we loved the Juliette Binoche film). So, this prequel went straight to the top of our list! Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 10 lucky Fabulous readers will win a copy of this new novel in this week's book competition When pregnant Vianne arrives in Marseille and gets a job as a waitress, she discovers the joy of cooking and creating recipes. 10 lucky Fabulous readers will win a copy of this new novel in this week's book competition. To win a copy, enter using the form below by 11:59pm on May 31, 2025. For full terms and conditions, click here.
The Sun
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Win a copy of Vianne by Joanne Harris in this week's Fabulous book competition
MORE than 25 years after it came out, Chocolat is still one of our fave books (plus we loved the Juliette Binoche film). So, this prequel went straight to the top of our list! 1 When pregnant Vianne arrives in Marseille and gets a job as a waitress, she discovers the joy of cooking and creating recipes. 10 lucky Fabulous readers will win a copy of this new novel in this week's book competition. To win a copy, enter using the form below by 11:59pm on May 31, 2025. For full terms and conditions, click here.
The Irish Sun
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Win a copy of Vianne by Joanne Harris in this week's Fabulous book competition
MORE than 25 years after it came out, Chocolat is still one of our fave books (plus we loved the Juliette Binoche film). So, this prequel went straight to the top of our list! 1 10 lucky Fabulous readers will win a copy of this new novel in this week's book competition When pregnant Vianne arrives in Marseille and gets a job as a waitress, she discovers the joy of cooking and creating recipes. 10 lucky Fabulous readers will win a copy of this new novel in this week's book competition. To win a copy, enter using the form below by 11:59pm on May 31, 2025. For full terms and conditions, click here.
The Sun
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Win a copy of Vianne by Joanne Harris in this week's Fabulous book competition terms and conditions
T&CS Open to United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland residents aged 18 or over only, except employees of the Promoter, News Corp UK & Ireland Limited, and their associated, affiliated or subsidiary companies, their families, agents or any other person(s) connected with the competition, including third party promotional partners. Competition closes at 11.59pm on May 31, 2025 (the 'Closing Date'). Entries received after the Closing Date will not be counted. One entry per person. Bulk, automatically generated or third party entries are void. To enter you must click the 'click to enter' link on Vianne page before the Closing Date. There will be 10 winners. The winners will be selected at random from all valid entries for this competition received before the Closing Date. Winners will be notified by email or phone or using the other contact details provided by the winner within fourteen days after the Closing Date. All reasonable endeavours will be made to contact the winner during the specified time. If a winner cannot be contacted or is not available, the Promoter reserves the right to re-draw another winner from the valid/correct entries that were received before the Closing Date. The prize is a copy of Vianne in hardcover, paperback or e-book format, at the discretion of the Promoter. The prize is non-transferable and there are no cash alternatives to the prize in whole or in part. The promoter of this competition is News Group Newspapers Ltd (publishers of The Sun) (the 'Promoter'). General terms and conditions for competitions apply*. *GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COMPETITIONS These terms and conditions apply to all competitions (unless and to the extent that) the competition states otherwise. The winner is responsible for ensuring they are able to accept the prize as set out and in accordance with these terms and conditions, in the event they are unable to do so then the Promoter reserves the right to redraw the prize. Entry is free but entrants should be aware that they may be subject to data charges depending on their own individual arrangements for Internet access if entry is online or by email. An eligible entrant must be an individual, must enter on their own behalf, and must submit an entry in the form requested by the Promoter under this promotion including their name, address and e-mail address. By entering, all eligible entrants agree to abide by each and all these terms and conditions. Misrepresentative or fraudulent entries will invalidate an entry. Where a competition involves a voting process: offering or receiving any incentive for voting is not permitted and will invalidate the vote, and may disqualify the recipient of the vote. The Promoter reserves the right, with or without cause, to exclude entrants and withhold prizes for violating any of these terms and conditions. The Promoter reserves the right to amend these terms and conditions. Any amendments will be published on the Promoter's website (the 'Website'). The Promoter reserves the right to publish entries (including parts of entries) other than the winning entry and publication does not necessarily mean the entrant has won a prize. Entrants will retain copyright in their submitted entries, however, by entering, all entrants licence the Promoter a worldwide royalty-free perpetual licence to edit, publish and use each entry in any and all media (including print and online) for publicity and news purposes. The Promoter reserves the right to publish entries (including parts of entries) although publication does not necessarily mean the entrant has won a prize. There is no cash or other alternative to the prize stated and the prize is not transferable and no part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions. Winners may be required to submit valid identification before receiving their prize. The Promoter's decision is final and binding on the entrants. No correspondence will be entered into. The Promoter will not be liable for technical, hardware, or software failures of any kind or lost or unavailable network connections that may limit or prohibit an eligible entrant's ability to participate in the competition. Other than death or personal injury arising from the acts or omissions of the Promoter or its employees, the Promoter will not be liable for any loss or damage arising out of the winner's (or their guest's) enjoyment of the prize. By entering, any subsequent prize winners agree to allow the free use of their names, photographs and general locations for publicity and news purposes during this and future promotions by the Promoter or any associated or subsidiary company of News Corp UK & Ireland Limited. Uses of personal data received by the Promoter in the course of the promotion are subject to the privacy policy found on the Website. Winners' names may be published on the Website. Completion and submission of a registration slip or e-mail will be deemed acceptance of these terms and conditions. The Promoter reserves the right at any time to cancel, modify or supersede the competition (including altering prizes) if, in our sole discretion, a competition is not capable of being conducted as specified. The Promoter reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal value in the event that circumstances beyond their control make this unavoidable. For a list of winners please send a stamped envelope to News UK, Competitions Department, 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF stating for which competition you would like winners' details. Competition rules published in publications of the Promoter (including social media if applicable) or on the Website form part of these rules.
