Appearing at St. Peter’s Parish Hall | 3:40 pm – 4:30 pm
In discussion with Laurie Lico Albanese, moderated by Sarah Cantin.
About the author
Lynda Cohen Loigman grew up in Longmeadow, MA. Her debut novel, Two-Family House, was a USA Today bestseller and a nominee for the Goodreads 2016 Choice Awards in Historical Fiction. Her second novel, The Wartime Sisters, was selected as a Woman’s World Book Club pick and a Best Book of 2019 by Real Simple Magazine. The Matchmaker’s Gift is her third novel.
MFOB featured book: The Matchmaker’s Gift
Even as a child, Sara Glikman knew she was destined to be a matchmaker. But in the early 1900’s on the Lower East Side of New York, that position was reserved for devout, older men. The neighborhood matchmakers did not take well to young Sara, who threatened their traditions and their livelihood. She operated in secret for a decade before demanding that the matchmakers halt their harassment and give her the respect and recognition she deserved.
When Sara dies in the 1990’s, her beloved granddaughter Abby inherits her journals, which detail the matches Sara made and the obstacles she overcame. As Abby connects with Sara’s words, she discovers her own matchmaking intuition, which turns out to be an inconvenient talent for a young, promising divorce attorney. Abby must weigh cultural expectations and career aspirations against her own happiness—the same battle her grandmother fought generations earlier and that women continue to fight even today.
Heartfelt and magical, The Matchmaker’s Gift is about two women from two different eras—a matchmaker and her divorce attorney granddaughter—who defy societal expectations and embrace their unique gift for seeing soulmates in the most unexpected places.