The Matchmaker's Gift
A Novel
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- £8.99
Publisher Description
Named a Best Book of Fall 2022 by Parade • BuzzFeed • New York Post • GMA.com • People
"Loigman's latest is a gem. A scrappy Jewish teenager newly arrived in 1920s New York struggles to follow her calling as a matchmaker––seventy years later, her cynical divorce-attorney granddaughter realizes she has very inconveniently inherited the family gift for matching soulmates. Both funny and moving, The Matchmaker's Gift made me smile from start to finish."
––Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code
Is finding true love a calling or a curse?
Even as a child in 1910, Sara Glikman knows her gift: she is a maker of matches and a seeker of soulmates. But among the pushcart-crowded streets of New York’s Lower East Side, Sara’s vocation is dominated by devout older men—men who see a talented female matchmaker as a dangerous threat to their traditions and livelihood. After making matches in secret for more than a decade, Sara must fight to take her rightful place among her peers, and to demand the recognition she deserves.
Two generations later, Sara’s granddaughter, Abby, is a successful Manhattan divorce attorney, representing the city’s wealthiest clients. When her beloved Grandma Sara dies, Abby inherits her collection of handwritten journals recording the details of Sara’s matches. But among the faded volumes, Abby finds more questions than answers. Why did Abby’s grandmother leave this library to her and what did she hope Abby would discover within its pages? Why does the work Abby once found so compelling suddenly feel inconsequential and flawed? Is Abby willing to sacrifice the career she’s worked so hard for in order to keep her grandmother’s mysterious promise to a stranger? And is there really such a thing as love at first sight?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The charming latest from Loigman (The Wartime Sisters) adds a twinkle of magic to the twinned stories of Sara Glickman, a Jewish Moldovan immigrant, and her granddaughter. At 10 in New York City, Sara discovers she has a magical knack for matchmaking: she sees a streak of light between two people when they are destined to be together. As she begins to apply her talents, she faces a roadblock in the form of the established male matchmakers of her Jewish community, who believe an unmarried young girl has no right to take their business. In a parallel narrative following Sara's death in 1994, her granddaughter Abby, a less than happy divorce attorney, reads the journals Sara left her. Abby then realizes she might have inherited Sara's gift, though her attempts to apply it to her clients lead to conflicts with her demanding boss. The stakes increase for both Sara and Abby as they pursue fulfillment in their trade. Loigman moves smoothly between the tales of her two spunky heroines and imparts historical details with a light touch. Readers are in for a treat.
