Blackberry Wine

By the bestselling author of Chocolat, a tantalising and sensuous novel set in the same rural French village.

This captivating and charming novel from international multi-million copy seller Joanne Harris takes us back to the French village we first discovered in Chocolat. Seamlessly interweaving the past and the present, magic and memory, it is a sensual rollercoaster that will appeal to fans of Victoria Hislop, Fiona Valpy, Maggie O’Farrell and Rachel Joyce.

‘Thickly sensuous, wildly indulgent, magical escapism- Chocolat lovers will drink deeply’ —GUARDIAN
‘Joanne Harris has the gift of conveying her delight in the sensuous pleasures of food, wine, scent and plants… Blackberry Wine has all the appeal of a velvety scented glass of vintage wine’ — DAILY MAIL
‘A wonderful story’ — ***** Reader review
‘A beautiful story… beautifully written and very atmospheric’ ***** Reader review
‘I could NOT put this book down’ ***** Reader review
‘A very good book, lots of warmth and light’ ***** Reader review

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Jay Mackintosh is trapped by memory in the old familiar landscape of his childhood, to which he longs to return.

A bottle of home-brewed wine left to him by a long-vanished friend seems to provide the key to an old mystery. As the unusual properties of the strange brew take effect, Jay escapes to a derelict farmhouse in the French village of Lansquenet.

There, a ghost from the past waits to confront him, and the reclusive Marise – haunted, lovely and dangerous – hides a terrible secret behind her closed shutters.

Between them, a mysterious chemistry. Or could it be magic?

Author Biography

Joanne Harris is the internationally renowned and award-winning author of over twenty novels. Her Whitbread-shortlisted novel Chocolat was adapted to the screen, starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. She is the author of several other bestsellers, including The Lollipop Shoes, Peaches for Monsieur Le Cure and The Strawberry Thief. She has also written acclaimed novels in such diverse genres as fantasy based on Norse myth (Runemarks, Runelight, The Gospel of Loki), and the Malbry cycle of dark psychological thrillers (Gentlemen & Players, Blueeyedboy, and Different Class).

Born in Barnsley, of an English father and a French mother, she spent fifteen years as a teacher before (somewhat reluctantly) becoming a full-time writer. In 2013, she was awarded an MBE, and in 2022 an OBE. She lives in Yorkshire, plays bass and flute in a band first formed when she was sixteen, and works in a shed in her garden. She is an honorary Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, and served for four years as Chair of the Society of Authors. She also has a form of synaesthesia which enables her to smell colours. Red, she says, smells of chocolate.