Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Grew up… roaming around Europe with a band of fellow travelers. A gypsy used to living on the water, Roux takes his home with him wherever he goes. Life's easier that way.
Living… currently, on the outskirts of a small French village. Gypsies have never been well liked – especially not in pious towns like this. “We river rats are the dregs of society,” he sarcastically tells newcomer Vianne, “with horrible diseases and criminal impulses.”
Profession… handyman of sorts. Roux doesn’t have steady employment, though Vianne has recently been taking him on to help with her house and her chocolate shop.
Relationship Status… romantically involved with Vianne. Like Roux, Vianne is an outsider, eschewing the village's conventions in favor of following her own dreams. Yet even as he's drawn to her, Roux knows that their relationship can't do anything for her popularity. "You make friends with us," he warns her, "you make enemies with others."
Challenge… peacefully living in the village. Roux and his fellow travelers don’t mean any harm, but the distrustful villagers see him and his kind as a threat. As a result, Roux has to live with prejudice and forced segregation.
Personality… wry, charming, and handsome. Roux is a mysterious, well-traveled man of the world, and while he's not used to staying in one place, he might just consider making an exception for the vivacious Vianne.
Get to Know him in...
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The history of the clown Chocolate, the first black circus artist in France, which has a great success in the late 19th century.
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Even before it was adapted into the Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp, Joanne Harris' New York Times bestselling novel Chocolat entranced readers with its mix of hedonism, whimsy, and, of course, chocolate.
In tiny Lansquenet, where nothing much has changed in a hundred years, beautiful newcomer Vianne Rocher and her exquisite chocolate shop arrive and instantly begin to play havoc with Lenten vows. Each box of luscious bonbons comes with a free gift: Vianne's uncanny perception of its buyer's private discontents and a clever, caring cure for them. Is she a witch? Soon the parish no longer cares, as it abandons itself to temptation, happiness, and a dramatic face-off between Easter solemnity and the pagan gaiety of a chocolate festival. Chocolat's every page offers a description of chocolate to melt in the mouths of chocoholics, francophiles, armchair gourmets, cookbook readers, and lovers of passion everywhere. It's a must for anyone who craves an escapist read, and is a bewitching gift for any holiday.
