The Matchmaker of Perigord - Hardcover

Julia Stuart

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385612028 ISBN 13: 9780385612029

Publisher: Doubleday, 2007

Synopsis

A perpetual breeze blows through Amour-sur-Belle, a village so ugly that even the English refuse to live there. Guillaume Ladoucette, the barber, is forced to give up his business as the advancing age of his customers means many have gone bald. He decides to set himself up as a matchmaker instead, for, despite its name, love is the one thing that Amour-sur-Belle lacks. Some shun Denise Vigier because her grandmother was found guilty of horizontal collaboration during the war. The bar owner refuses to serve Madame Fournier, the mushroom poisoner. And Madame Ladoucette and Madame Moreau have been trading insults for so long they have become almost a form of greeting. ‘Not everyone falls instantly head over heels,’ the matchmaker counsels. ‘Love is like a good cassoulet, it needs time and determination.’ But how can a matchmaker make love simmer – when he has not yet solved the problem of his own troubled heart?

About this title

About the Author

Julia Stuart is an award-winning journalist and lives in Bahrain. This is her first novel.

Review

“A hilarious romp off the beaten track. Love it to bits.” (Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat and Gentlemen and Players)

“A warm, funny novel about life and love in rural France...Stuart’s zesty narrative style is tailor-made for farce...Stuart injects her own brand of va-va-voom into this classic formula.” (The Independent Extra (London))

“Debut novelist Stuart infects Amour-sur-Belle’s byzantine lore with whimsy...and sensual detail.” (Publishers Weekly)

“This frothy debut, as enchanting as Joanne Harris’s Chocolat, follows Guillaume Ladoucette, a barber in southwestern France.” (More Magazine)

“Filled with enchanting settings and a brilliant attention to detail, Stuart’s first novel is an enjoyable trip through the sweetness, sadness, and hilarity that love-and life-often brings.” (Library Journal)

“Following these gentle folks on their blind dates and awkward reentries into the field of romance is a sweet and simple pleasure. Stuart...does manage to richly evoke the fecund sights and smells of rural France...[A] delightful, excursion to a kinder, gentler place.” (Kirkus Reviews)

Edition details

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385612028
• ISBN 13: 9780385612029
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320