An Evening with Joanne Harris

We are delighted to be joined by the extraordinarily talented Joanne Harris – bestselling author of Chocolat – as we celebrate the publication of her new novel of love, loss, mystery and dementia.

A FARSLEY LIT FEST 2026 EVENT

As well as hearing about Joanne’s new, chilling winter ghost story, we’ll discover the secrets behind all her writing and delve into the legendary world of Chocolat, her 1999 novel which was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film, starring Juliette Binoche.

The event will include a book signing. Doors at 7pm.

THE BOOK

Out on the moor, in the snow, a house stands beneath a pylon. It is a house full of memories, and full of old things. And, in the dark, when the pylon sings in the wind, it is a house full of ghosts and fading memories…

The house, Kirkhill, has a new occupant – just moved in, fresh from a bitter divorce and looking for a fresh start. The moor is the perfect place for it: isolated, beautiful in the changing seasons, peaceful, and with just enough of the previous owners belongings that it’s a perfectly self-contained and cosy home.

Only as the nights start to draw in, and the weather takes a turn, so does the house. The cosy isolation becomes menacing, animals begin acting strangely, and it seems someone could be watching the house…and the diaries of the previous owners begin to reveal a terrible tragedy which befell Kirkhill – one which its new occupant may be unable to escape…

THE AUTHOR

Joanne Harris (OBE, FRSL) is the author of twenty novels, three cookbooks, many short stories and even the libretti for two short operas!

She was born in Barnsley, to a French mother and English father, and her books which she writes from a shed in her garden in a little wood in Yorkshire, are now published in over 50 countries.

Joanne is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, an honorary Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, was Chair of the Society of Authors between 2020 and 2024, and in 2022 was awarded an OBE by the Queen.