Thurber House's "Evenings with Authors" presents Joanne Harris at the Columbus Performing Arts Center, 549 Franklin Ave., 7:30 p.m., Monday, April 28. She will read from The Girl With No Shadow, the sequel to her New York Times bestselling novel, Chocolat, which was made into the Oscar-nominated film starring Johnny Depp.

As the sequel, The Girl With No Shadow, opens, five years have passed since Vianne, a chocolatier, her daughter, Anouk, and a new baby, Rosette, moved from the rural village that was the setting for Chocolat, to Paris. In the intervening years, she abandoned the magical, gypsy ways that got her into so much trouble, pitting the Church against Chocolate.

Vianne has changed her name, stopped making chocolate, given up her one true love Roux, who is Rosette’s father, and is considering marriage to a conventional businessman. Then Zozie de l’Alba comes onto the scene. Beautiful, vivacious, enchanting in her lollipop-red shoes, Zozie is not all she seems, especially when it comes to Anouk. Vianne knows she must return to her old magical ways to save not only her older daughter’s life from the dangerous Zozie, but reclaim her own as well.

Kirkus Reviews said of The Girl With No Shadow: “A contemporary, razor-edged fairy tale—very dark chocolate to be gobbled up,” and from BookPage, “If Chocolat was milk chocolate, The Girl With No Shadow is the darker more nuanced confection.”

Following the reading, Harris will take questions, chat with the audience about her writing and sign books that will be available for purchase. Tickets are $18 in advance, $20 at the door, with discounts for students and seniors. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 614-464-1032 or visit www.thurberhouse.org.