Joanne Harris provides a great deal of insight into her writing on her blog and Web site, where she fully discusses her themes, metaphors, symbolism, and inspiration for her characters. Part French and English, Harris was raised in a sweet shop similar to the one described in Chocolat. Along with magic, witchcraft, religion and feminism, food is a recurring element in her fiction. Harris has been labeled a “cross-genre” writer because her fiction contains components of varied genres, including fantasy, gothic, horror, and magical realism. Harris says she dislikes such labels, however, and does not see “why anyone has to choose between genres.” Her novels, in fact, are varied. Some are feminist, with strong female heroines and weak males (Chocolat, Holy Fools). Three of her novels, which she calls her “food trilogy novels,” use food as a metaphor for change (Chocolat, Blackberry Wine,and Five Quarters of the Orange). These novels also are examples of magical realism (a genre that blends magical elements into a realistic atmosphere) with enchanted chocolates, mysterious wine, and supernatural oranges whose scent causes migraines. Two of her novels are gothic (Evil Seed isa vampire noveland Sleep, Pale Sister isa Victorian gothic tale). Her most recent novel, Blueeyedboy,is a twenty-first-century psychological thriller whose setting is the unreliable and sometimes sinister world of the Internet.

Chocolat has had mixed reviews since its publication in 1999. Some critics claim that the novel’s themes are light weight and idealistic. Sharon Schulz-Elsing notes that the novel is “not quite as profound as it wants to be.” Several critics have commented that although the setting is modern, the plot is dated and unbelievable because no modern-day French town would slavishly follow the dictates of a priest, especially one such as Francis Reynaud. Others, however, point out that realism is not the point and do not find this to be distracting. Some critics find Harris’s writing style beautiful, fluid, and evocative; others find it unremarkable and lacking punch. Critic D. Chazen says that the writing style in Chocolat is like a “wandering brook that trickles along,” never injecting “a touch of variety” to pick up the action, and never building up to a strong climax, in part because there are too many conflicts to be resolved. Wendy Robards, reviewing Chocolat for The Piker Press, calls the plot “thin” with “too many unanswered questions about Vianne and her mother.” Robards believes that the good characters are too good and evil ones are too evil, but she finds the writing style alluring and descriptive.Most critics agree, however, that the descriptions of chocolate, with its scents and tastes, are vivid and precise and the sketches of the French countryside are charming and poetic.

Chocolat is Joanne Harris’s third and best-known novel, in part because it has been made into a popular film starring Juliette Binoche and Jonny Depp as Vianne and Roux. In the film, however, the village priest has been changed to a town mayor to avoid offending Catholics. This change surprises Harris. She points out that her intention in Chocolat was “never to highlight Reynaud's role as a priest, or to denigrate Catholicism.” She explains, Reynaud “is basically a man who uses his ideology to maintain control over other people, who misinterprets Catholicism in order to enforce an agenda of his own.” In spite of her protests to the contrary, however, Harris has been accused of being harshly critical of both the Catholic church and the priesthood for mistakes, current and historical, including the Crusades, the Inquisition, pedophile priests, celibacy violations, and so forth. Chocolat, however,celebrates pleasure, love, and tolerance; the character Francis Reynaud who lacks these qualities, not the church. Critic Amanda Craig states that if one considers “the harm that religious fanaticism and sexual repression continue to cause,” then perhaps the story in Chocolat is “both consoling and wise.”