Rosa 'Vianne's Chocolat'
Blue Diamond Garden Centres will launch a new and exclusive rose on behalf of best-selling author Joanne Harris, which links to Joanne’s new book, a prequel to her novel Chocolat, which was made into an Oscar-nominated film in 2000.
Joanne Harris OBE is the author of over 20 novels, including CHOCOLAT, which was made into an Oscar-nominated film in 2000. Her work has been translated into over 50 languages, and has won a number of British and international awards. She was the Chair of the Society of Authors for 6 years and has judged numerous literary prizes.
Joanne holds honorary doctorates in literature from the universities of Sheffield and Huddersfield, is an honorary Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and in 2022 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She also has a kind of synaesthesia that allows her to smell colours. Red, she says, smells of chocolate.
Vianne is the prequel to Joanne's best-selling book, Chocolat. On the evening of July 4th, 1989, a young woman scatters her mother’s ashes in New York and follows the call of the changing winds to the French coastal city of Marseille. For the first time in her life, Vianne feels in control of her future. Charming her way into a job as a waitress, she tries to fit in, make friends, and come to terms with her pregnancy, knowing that by the time her child is born, the turning wind will have changed once again.
As she discovers the joy of cooking for the very first time, making local recipes her own with the addition of chocolate spices, she learns that this humble magic has the power to unlock secrets. And yet her gift comes at a price. And Vianne has a secret of her own; a secret that threatens everything…
Joanne says;
As the child and grandchild of gardeners, I spent much of my childhood in gardens. I was surrounded by roses; their colours; their scents; their stories, their names. Names are words of power. Every writer knows this. To name a thing is to claim it, and behind every name, there's a story. I'm thrilled to have been given this chance to tell the story of Vianne's Chocolat, a beautiful rose, named after the heroine of the book that has meant so much to me and to my readers across the world. Here she is; she's gorgeous, sweet and dusky-red, and I mean to fill my garden with scented beauties just like her.
Rosa - Vianne’s Chocolat is bred by Rosen Tantau. This Hybrid Tea rose produces stunning highly fragrant, repeat flowering blooms that are deep purple to velvet red. It is ideal for planting in beds and borders and can grow to a height of approximately 80-120cm when fully grown.