Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Aug 2008
320 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Barber Guillaume Ladoucette has always enjoyed great success in his tiny village in southwestern France, catering to the tonsorial needs of Amour-sur-Belle's thirty-three inhabitants. But times have changed. His customers have grown older—and balder. Suddenly there is no longer a call for Guillaume's particular services, and he is forced to make a drastic career change. Since love and companionship are necessary commodities at any age, he becomes Amour-sur-Belle's official matchmaker and intends to unite hearts as ably as he once cut hair. But alas, Guillaume is not nearly as accomplished an agent of amour, as the disastrous results of his initial attempts amply prove, especially when it comes to arranging his own romantic future.
For every reader who adored Chocolat, Julia Stuart's The Matchmaker of Périgord is a delectable, utterly enchanting, and sinfully satisfying delight.
"It's all done well enough, but a reliance on magical-realist elements to resolve the town's spiraling affairs makes for an unsatisfying resolution." - Publishers Weekly
"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
"A slightly verbose, yet still delightful, excursion to a kinder, gentler place." - Kirkus
"A hilarious romp off the beaten track. Love it to bits." - Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat and Gentlemen and Players
"This frothy debut, as enchanting as Joanne Harris’s Chocolat, follows Guillaume Ladoucette, a barber in southwestern France." - More Magazine
This information about The Matchmaker of Perigord was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Julia Stuart is the bestselling novelist of Balthazar Jones and the Tower of London Zoo and an award-winning journalist. A former feature writer for the Independent and the Independent on Sunday, she is a writer-in-residence at Kingston University, as well as a guest tutor for City University's Creative Writing (Novels) MA. She lives in London. Her fourth novel, The Last Pearl Fisher of Scotland was published in August 2016.
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