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A Novel
by Lynda Cohen Loigman
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?
"Loigman's thorough exploration of turn-of-the century, Jewish immigrant culture and her smooth transitions into the 1990s give the reader a full and satisfying picture of Manhattan across the twentieth century. The details are painstaking but never tedious, and the relationships are exciting, sincere, and beautiful." ––Booklist
"Charming...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." ––Publishers Weekly
"Insightful, charming and packed with historical New York details, The Matchmaker's Gift is a tribute to the bonds of family and taking a chance on true love." ––Shelf Awareness
"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
"In the inviting The Matchmaker's Gift, Loigman takes the readers by the hand and leads them into the world of shadchanim, or matchmakers, of both a historic and modern variety. This charming story about a realm that is at once familiar and magical invites contemplation of the many ways in which the past reverberates into the present." ––Marie Benedict, New York Times bestselling author of The Mystery of Mrs. Christie
This information about The Matchmaker's Gift was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Lynda Cohen Loigman is the author of The Matchmaker's Gift, The Wartime Sisters, and The Two-Family House. She received a B.A. in English and American Literature from Harvard College and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. She grew up in Longmeadow, MA, and now lives in New York.
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