Cat, a Hat, and a Piece of String

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 Curé 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.

"A vibrant tombola of stories...each a commute-friendly 20-or-so pages long." Time Out "An excellent mix of stories - some dark and mysterious, others heart-warming and thought-provoking." Good Housekeeping (Reader Recommended) "Harris is an intriguing writer, so this is worth a punt, if only to savour the seasonal horror of the story about a house where it's Christmas all year round." The Lady "Strongly plotted and written in registers that are variously comical, sad and surreal...Best of all is 'Cookie', where delicious gluttony - Harris's forte - gathers a sharp note of menace." Independent "Harris inhabits a world where fantasy and reality collide in a most inventive way to produce a series of delightful, bittersweet yarns." Bella