The Discovery of Chocolate [Hardcover]

James Runcie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 23, 2001

A young Spaniard sets off for South America in 1518 with Cortes and the Conquistadors, propelled by his love's declaration that she will not marry until he returns with a special treasure -- a symbol of their love -- that no man or woman has ever before received. But during his travels he falls in love with Ignacia, a native woman who introduces him to the secrets of the most delicious drink he has ever tasted: chocolate. Their passionate affair is cut short by the chaotic conquest of Mexico.

So begins this charming and adventurous story about the magical substance we now know as chocolate, and of the passions and obsessions it has inspired from its earliest days. Our hero later discovers that his lover had secretly added the elixir to life to his chocolate drink. This allows him to travel through history: to Paris during the time of the Revolution, to Vienna in the nineteenth century, to late Victorian England, and to Hershey Pennsylvania -- accompanied all the while by his trusty greyhound, Pedro. unable to die, he searches to recapture the magic of Ignacia's chocolate -- and to learn to love life just as fully. Playful and intelligent, this is a romantic story about love and loss inspired by a very enchanting substance.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a series of vignettes that span four centuries and are linked by their focus on chocolate, immortal protagonist Diego de Godoy presides over the discovery and refinement of the divine confection--but his concomitant reflections on life and love, too often trite, leave the reader hungering for more satisfying fare. In 1518, Diego, a young Spaniard anxious to prove his devotion to the lady Isabella, joins a ship of conquistadors bound for the Americas under the leadership of Cort‚s. His devotion to Isabella wanes, however, when, as a guest of Montezuma in Mexico, he meets the lovely Ignacia and tastes the smooth, bittersweet drink she serves him--cacahuatl, or chocolate. Diego and Ignacia spend an idyllic week together before his fellow Spaniards turn on Montezuma and raze his land. The lovers are forced to part, but not before Ignacia serves Diego a magical drink that makes him immortal and able to travel though time. In the centuries that follow, Diego charms Spanish nobility with his mole sauce, prepares chocolate creams with the Marquis de Sade in the Bastille, invents the Sacher torte, undergoes analysis with Sigmund Freud in Vienna and helps Hershey invent the Kiss--though he longs all the while for his Ignacia and resents the curse of his protracted existence. While Runcie, a BBC filmmaker, offers a clever conceit and meticulous, enticing descriptions of chocolate-making, Diego's philosophizing falls short by comparison, and the plot relies to heavily upon contrivance and coincidence. Still, those willing to suspend disbelief and simply go along for the ride will be beguiled by Diego's fanciful, sensual journey. Author tour.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In this winning blend of fiction and fact, a long-lived Spaniard serves as narrator and guide through the Old World discovery and development of one of life's consuming passions. In 1518, young Diego de Godoy sets sail for the New World to find a rare treasure to win the heart and hand of Isabella. Joining Cortes, Diego journeys to Mexico, where he guards Montezuma; finds his true-love, Ignacia; and through her discovers the delight of the drink of the cacao bean. War parts the lovers, but Ignacia's special chocolate elixir sustains them through the centuries, as Diego's life centers on chocolate: he prepares confections with the Marquis de Sade in the Bastille, helps create the Sacher torte in Vienna (where Sigmund Freud treats him with cocaine and therapy), has a hand in shaping and naming the Hersey Kiss, and discusses life, love, and chocolate mousse with Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein. And he learns that even virtual immortality and chocolate do not bring happiness if love is lacking. A delicious literary debut. Michele Leber
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1st edition (January 23, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060184817
• ISBN-13: 978-0060184810
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,898,413 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Delicious Romp through 4 Centuries of Sumptious Pleasure, August 30, 2002

By 

Diana F. Von Behren "reneofc" (Kenner, LA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Discovery of Chocolate (Paperback)

Spanish notary and companion to the infamous Cortez, Diego happens upon the lovely Ignacia in the court of Montezuma in Mexico serving a wonderous drink which she has concocted from the very beans the natives use for currency. From his first sip, he is entranced, abandoning all thoughts of his beloved at home and just about everything else as he plunges headlong into a sensuous affair where he discovers the secrets of preparing the world's most delectable chocolate as well as the contours of his lover's body. As they are about to be separated by the destruction of Montezuma's great city, Diego and Ignacia vow never to love another and drink a special concoction to validate their committment. Little does Diego realize that the elixir enables him to slow down his aging so that every ten years of his life is likened to 100 years of normal human existence. He spends the next 400 years looking for his lost love and contemplating his ephemeral pleasures. Believing Ignacia to be dead, he and his ageless dog,Pedro, encounter some of history's more interesting chocolate connosseurs.
My one problem with this book was in the way that Diego realizes that what he thinks is a short time is actually a very long time spanning many generations of people. Somehow Diego seems to transport himself through some kind of time warp which moves him rapidly forward on the timeline of history without actually sensing the time pass at all. When he is actually in the company of other humans, time again seems to slow down to the normal pace; it is only between the various encounters and locales that time seems to take on this wormhole quality.
Diego's melancholy with regard to his frustrated efforts to find Ignacia at times becomes tedious, otherwise, some of his comments regarding life and pleasure are insightful and amusing.
All around, I felt this book well worth the effort spend reading it. In particular, I loved the descriptions of the spices and the techniques used to create some of the sinfully delicious sounding chocolate delicacies. Reading the author's thoroughly sensual prose was akin to popping the highest quality dark chocolate in my mouth and savoring its melt and aftertaste.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Endearing Tale of Love and Chocolate, February 18, 2001

By 

Marchez Vite "marchezvite" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Discovery of Chocolate (Hardcover)

Runcie's debut novel is a captivating fable about the mystery and history of chocolate. The story is told through the eyes of Diego de Godoy and begins in 1518 with his quest for a unique gift for his lady love, Isabella. This mission takes him to Mexico with Cortes, where despite his pure motives, he falls in love with Ignacia, from whom Diego receives the gift of chocolate. This beverage also imparts the gift of very, very long life.

This new romance cut short by Cortes' sack of the city of Mexico, Diego's journey continues across continents and time. He meets the Marquis de Sade while imprisoned in the Bastille, Dr. Freud while in Vienna, and Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein while crossing the Atlantic on his way to Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Through chocolate, Diego finds love, and through love, Diego discovers life. This dear story is told in rich, sensual language, and I was entranced throughout. The novel exercised my heartstrings continually, it and left me tearful and emotionally spent - but ever so pleased.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anne Rice in style, April 8, 2002

By 

ilmk "ilmk" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Discovery of Chocolate (Paperback)

This is a delightful novel. It's almost a short Anne Rice. Simply put, the cacoa bean is used to create an elixir of immortality and, like most of the vampires of Rice, our erstwhile hero Diego de Godoy wanders back from the New World to Spain and beyond attempting to reseek his lost Aztec love, Ignacia. With his faithful dog who makes the perfect silent partner over four centuries, Godoy perfects the chocolate art and the ties between both it and love are there as a major theme. The novel is a series of episodes, from the Bastille, to Freud, from Hershey to the whore houses and each one touches on the almost epicurean meddling in important historical moments until Diego realises that he simply missed his love by a matter of not thinking.
I highly recommend this. It is an almost dreamy telling, easy on the eye and, whilst it can be though-provoking, is almost wickedly sensual in its cares.