The Matchmaker of Perigord****
by Julia Stuart
I’m joining JainatFood for Thought, a delicious blog for readers with an appetite for the written word.
“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.”
What an entertaining & fun romp through this French village! Prepare for lots of repetition of full names & phrases in this tale~ adding to the farce and serving to help you keep this quirky cast of characters straight. . .
Among them is Guillaume~ the main ingredient in this story and former barber-turned-matchmaker~ current keeper of his family cassoulet; abaker with ridiculously small, flour-covered shoes; a postman with a tendency to mark his territory along his postal route; the mushroom poisoner; and a chatelaine who prefers antique shorn-off dresses.
Toss in an infernal egg-laying chicken, add a communal shower, stir with the force of a mini-tornado, and season with a crumbling chateau~ this book is a recipe for hilarity!
“Keeping the cassoulet going was more than just the duty of an only son, but something upon which the family’s name rested. For the cassoulet war had been long and ugly and there was still no sign of a truce.”
The bone of contention and source of contraversy~ should a cassoulet have tomatoes in it or not?
*For the purposes of this review, my rooster is standing in for the part of Violette, the infernal chicken :)
“…the bird had taken to entering the house as if she owned the place. Guillaume Laudoucette had tried everything he could think of to get rid of her, short of blasting the bird off his garden wall where she would sit warming her fluffy undercarriage while staring at him.”
“Immediately the barber felt something collapse underneath him. He shot horrified to his feet and inspected the red cushion that his grandmother had made. There, crushed into the fabric, were pieces of shell, and smears of raw yolk were rapidly seeping into it.”
“He would return home to find peck marks in his butter, tell-tale four-toed footprints in the talc on the bathroom floor and black-and-white droppings on his freshly washed cotton underpants airing in the cupboard.”
See Also
How to Maintain a Sourdough Starter Without Feedings or DiscardsThe Lost Art of Cooking Over a FireThanksgiving Leftover Stuffed Egg RollsA Low Potassium Menu For When Levels Are High - Renal Diet HQ