The Matchmaker of Perigord

Julia Stuart's The Matchmaker of Perigord is a tale of a small village in the South West of France called Amour-sur-Belle. It is so ugly even the English will not buy property there and it only has 33 inhabitants. Guillaume Ladoucette is the barber but he has few customers as many of the villagers are going bald. He decides to open a matchmaking business instead as he knows a lot of the villagers are looking for love.

The story which follows is fast paced and whimsical and includes many luscious descriptions of food as well as plenty of eccentric characters and local feuds. How the villagers find happiness and outwit the council when it forces a public shower on them because they're using too much water having baths is amusing reading. I don't think it is perhaps as good as the same author's Balthazar Jones and the Tower of London Zoo but it is still worth reading.

Just about to start reading . . . .

I intend to start reading today: Georgette Heyer's Black Sheep; Katie Roiphe's Uncommon Arrangements; Julia Stuart's The Matchmaker of Perigord. I shall also continue reading Susan Faludi's The Terror Dream and listening to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. People always ask me how I can possibly keep the details in my head when I read so many books at the same time. I think the answer lies in making sure you read different genres. I'm not sure I could read 4 books of the same genre.

Of the four books which I shall be reading - 2 are fiction and 2 are non fiction. Black Sheep is set in a similar historical period to Pride and Prejudice but its location is Bath whereas P&P is set in Hertfordshire, Kent, London and Derbyshire. In any case listening is not the same as reading - well not to me it isn't. I know many other voracious readers who always have more than one book on the go. If I'm struggling with a book I will read it 30 pages or so at a time interspersed with another book which I am really enjoying. That way I persevere with books which I might otherwise give up on - and I'm frequently rewarded by finding books enjoyable which started off in an unpromising fashion.

Balthazar Jones again

I finished Julia Stuart's Balthazar Jones and the Tower of London Zoo last night. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a book to laugh over and to cry over. It's about interesting people and interesting animals. It's also about love, loss and coming to term with situations as they are rather than as you want them to be. Funny and heartwarming and I found myself laughing over one page and then crying over the next one.

I really liked Hebe - Balthazar's wife - who works in the lost property office. She and her colleague, Valerie Jennings, are absolutely priceless. Hebe takes refuge in a magician's box for sawing the lady in half when life gets too much for her - why was that left on the Underground?; Valerie lies in an Egyptian sarchopagus with a hardback book carefully wedged to stop the lid closing. Their attempts to reunite lost property with the owners are priceless: the box with someone's ashes in; the safe that no one can open; clothes; books; a gigolo's diary; an Oscar statuette - these are just a few of the things described.

Then there are the animals - the parrot that sleeps upside down; the zorilla - don't ask; the albatross which misses its mate and the pig which plays football with a grapefruit. But the people who make up the Tower population are intriguing too - Septimus Drew, the erotic novel writing clergyman with the nibbled cassock and the unrequited love for Ruby Dore the landlady of the Rack and Ruin pub; the Ravenmaster who is fanatical about his ravens and about the woman from the cafe.

It is lovely book and I recommend it to anyone who wants something different.

Balthazar Jones and the Tower of London Zoo

Balthazar Jones and the Tower of London Zoo by Julia Stuart is one of those novels which is totally unclassifiable. Balthazar is a Beefeater who is asked out of the blue to become the keeper of a menagerie filled with animals given to the Queen by other countries. The various animals and birds are delivered to the Tower from London Zoo except somewhere along the line the penguins go missing and don't arrive and four giraffes appear which should have stayed at the zoo.

But it is not just the animals which are causing problems. There is the Rev Septimus Drew - the Tower chaplain - fighting a constant battle against rats who nibble his cassock when he's praying. He is suffering from unrequited love while he makes a career for himself as an erotic novelist. Balthazar himself is having problems with his wife as a result of the death of their son Milo. Hebe Jones works at London Underground's lost property office and the scenes set here are marvellously funny.

In amongst the fascinating characters there is a great deal about the history of the Tower, though it is never overdone. I haven't yet finished the book - about two thirds through at the moment - but it is so quirky and whimsical I had to put something on here about it. Love the cover as well.