Publisher: St Martin’s Press, September 20th, 2022

Format: ebook

Pages: 320

Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

From Lynda Cohen Loigman, the bestselling author of The Two-Family House and The Wartime Sisters, comes a heartwarming story of two extraordinary women from two different eras who defy expectations to utilize their unique gift of seeing soulmates in the most unexpected places in The Matchmaker’s Gift.

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? 

My Review:

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for the copy of this book!
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Read if you like: dual timelines, immigration stories.
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This book follows Sara and her granddaughter Abby. Sara is a Jewish immigrant to the US in the early 1900s who has a gift for matchmaking. Sara must navigate life as an immigrant as well as face scrutiny as a female matchmaker. Abby is a divorce lawyer who inherits her grandmother’s journals and learns about her life as a matchmaker.
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I loved Sara’s story and wanted to read more about her. While Abby’s sections were interesting, I wanted more on Sara’s courtship with her husband and life in New York.