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The Matchmaker
Uprooted from war-torn London, Alda Lucie-Brown and her three daughters start a new life at Pine Cottage in rural Sussex. Unsuited to a quiet life, Alda attempts to orchestrate -- with varying degrees of success -- the love affairs of her neighbours. Her unwilling subjects include an Italian POW, a Communist field-hand, a battery-chicken farmer and her intelligent friend Jean.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1949
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449 people want to read
About the author
Stella Gibbons
57 books412 followersStella Dorothea Gibbons was an English novelist, journalist, poet and short-story writer.
Her first novel, Cold Comfort Farm, won the Femina Vie Heureuse Prize for 1933. A satire and parody of the pessimistic ruralism of Thomas Hardy, his followers and especially Precious Bain by Mary Webb -the "loam and lovechild" genre, as some called it, Cold Comfort Farm introduces a self-confident young woman, quite self-consciously modern, pragmatic and optimistic, into the grim, fate-bound and dark rural scene those novelists tended to portray.
Her first novel, Cold Comfort Farm, won the Femina Vie Heureuse Prize for 1933. A satire and parody of the pessimistic ruralism of Thomas Hardy, his followers and especially Precious Bain by Mary Webb -the "loam and lovechild" genre, as some called it, Cold Comfort Farm introduces a self-confident young woman, quite self-consciously modern, pragmatic and optimistic, into the grim, fate-bound and dark rural scene those novelists tended to portray.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
July 16, 2021
Reading Gibbons is like lounging back in an old armchair with a quilted rug, a cup of tea and the blaze of a roaring fire. Pure comfort.
When I finally got around to reading Cold Comfort Farm, for which Gibbons is most famous - I was astounded that it had taken me so long to discover her unique wit and wisdom and story telling magic.
While there are a number of cliches and nonsensical happenings, the Matchmaker, like Cold Comfort is entertaining and witty - with laugh out loud moments. At the same time, Gibbons is clearly poking fun at those that she thinks deserve it - across all classes and genders, all her characters are bold and flawed and incredibly frustrating at times - and this in part is what makes her stories so enjoyable.
Rural England is again the scene in this novel - so much of what is played out between the characters is interestingly juxtaposed against the ramshackle and ruddiness of country life - the chicken farmer, the lusty Italian prisoners of war toiling in the fields, the young 'land' girls yearning for the city lights while they bake bread...
Gibbons also sets this novel at an interesting time, not often covered in literature - the period immediately after the end of WWII - a time when countries and communities were shattered and left to collect the pieces of their torn apart lives. In this way, the Matchmaker, while a quasi-romance, is also a deeply sombre reflection on the devestating impacts of the war.
Can't wait to dive into another Gibbons, better go find my slippers!
When I finally got around to reading Cold Comfort Farm, for which Gibbons is most famous - I was astounded that it had taken me so long to discover her unique wit and wisdom and story telling magic.
While there are a number of cliches and nonsensical happenings, the Matchmaker, like Cold Comfort is entertaining and witty - with laugh out loud moments. At the same time, Gibbons is clearly poking fun at those that she thinks deserve it - across all classes and genders, all her characters are bold and flawed and incredibly frustrating at times - and this in part is what makes her stories so enjoyable.
Rural England is again the scene in this novel - so much of what is played out between the characters is interestingly juxtaposed against the ramshackle and ruddiness of country life - the chicken farmer, the lusty Italian prisoners of war toiling in the fields, the young 'land' girls yearning for the city lights while they bake bread...
Gibbons also sets this novel at an interesting time, not often covered in literature - the period immediately after the end of WWII - a time when countries and communities were shattered and left to collect the pieces of their torn apart lives. In this way, the Matchmaker, while a quasi-romance, is also a deeply sombre reflection on the devestating impacts of the war.
Can't wait to dive into another Gibbons, better go find my slippers!
March 2, 2016
What an amazing writer! My first Gibbons book was Cold Comfort Farm, and I found it so funny that I went out and collected a bunch of her other novels immediately ... and then left them on my bookshelves for years, always getting only a few chapters in before I had to give up.
But this time, I almost couldn't put The Matchmaker down. Every description seemed to conjure up an oil painting in my head, every character so real that I felt like I'd met them in real life and knew exactly what they were like and how they'd react. How can I describe Gibbons' writing? She's like a Jane Austen of post-war England, or like an earlier Barbara Pym - that same subtlety, that same wisdom, and sense of fun. But Gibbons is similar in another way - she doesn't like Hollywood-type drama and comedy, her stories are very much everyday - she doesn't think domestic scenes or quiet lives are beneath her dignity to write about. And yet she doesn't avoid huge topics - her depiction of the Italian POWs was compassionate and fascinating, even if she ignores their wartime experiences in favour of their pre-war (Italian countryside) and post-war (POW camp) experiences.
Tl;dr - so, so good. Read at once if you like mature, solemn, and yet mischievous novels.
But this time, I almost couldn't put The Matchmaker down. Every description seemed to conjure up an oil painting in my head, every character so real that I felt like I'd met them in real life and knew exactly what they were like and how they'd react. How can I describe Gibbons' writing? She's like a Jane Austen of post-war England, or like an earlier Barbara Pym - that same subtlety, that same wisdom, and sense of fun. But Gibbons is similar in another way - she doesn't like Hollywood-type drama and comedy, her stories are very much everyday - she doesn't think domestic scenes or quiet lives are beneath her dignity to write about. And yet she doesn't avoid huge topics - her depiction of the Italian POWs was compassionate and fascinating, even if she ignores their wartime experiences in favour of their pre-war (Italian countryside) and post-war (POW camp) experiences.
Tl;dr - so, so good. Read at once if you like mature, solemn, and yet mischievous novels.
August 31, 2019
The book is worth reading. It is the first sentence which comes to my mind when I think what to write about this book.
I have picked a novel by Stella Gibbons because her short stories showed me that she was a good observer and an analyst of her times and her contemporaries. This book confirms that. And it is the power, the best part of this novel. Those times, directly after the IIWW aren't known to me. The way how Gibbons described people, their lives, their dreams and their world is remarkable. In one way it seems so ordinary but on the other hand, I had felt that I was allowed to see those people how they were, without cover-up, without rewriting them to please the reader.
Let me be honest, I don't like any of characters like one can like the character of a book or a friend. But I don't have to love the characters to love a book. It sounds perhaps worse than it is. I mean, I like Alda as a mother, I like Fabrio as a lover and so on. Each character has a good and bad side of own character (personality).
For some readers a pace perhaps too slow. I had to get used to it. But when I got used to it, it stopped annoy and I liked this slow narration.
I will definitely read Gibbons' another novel.
(By the by, I haven't read Cold Comfort Farm yet. I know that those who have read it first, rated "The Matchmaker" by comparison to "Cold Comfort Farm".)
I have picked a novel by Stella Gibbons because her short stories showed me that she was a good observer and an analyst of her times and her contemporaries. This book confirms that. And it is the power, the best part of this novel. Those times, directly after the IIWW aren't known to me. The way how Gibbons described people, their lives, their dreams and their world is remarkable. In one way it seems so ordinary but on the other hand, I had felt that I was allowed to see those people how they were, without cover-up, without rewriting them to please the reader.
Let me be honest, I don't like any of characters like one can like the character of a book or a friend. But I don't have to love the characters to love a book. It sounds perhaps worse than it is. I mean, I like Alda as a mother, I like Fabrio as a lover and so on. Each character has a good and bad side of own character (personality).
For some readers a pace perhaps too slow. I had to get used to it. But when I got used to it, it stopped annoy and I liked this slow narration.
I will definitely read Gibbons' another novel.
(By the by, I haven't read Cold Comfort Farm yet. I know that those who have read it first, rated "The Matchmaker" by comparison to "Cold Comfort Farm".)
January 27, 2013
Originally published on my blog here in February 2003.
Stella Gibbons is overwhelmingly best known as the author of the hilarious Cold Comfort Farm; so much so that I was surprised to discover the existence of another novel. (It was in a furniture shop, one of a number of old second hand books used to make bookcase shelves look less bare; the shop assistant offered it to me when I picked it up and started looking through it.)
There are many stories about how people endured hardship during the Second World War; less well remembered (as less glamorous) is that life continued to be difficult for many people for some years following its end. In Britain, it was the first war accompanied by massive destruction at home for centuries (since the Civil War in England, or the Jacobean rising in Scotland). Many families were bombed out, and food rationing continued for years. The Matchmaker, published in 1949, is about one such family, driven from a middle class existence to a poor cottage in the country, and the people that they meet in the neighbourhood.
The father of the three girls is still in the army, on duty in occupied Germany, so the main focus is on their mother, Alda. She is the incorrigible matchmaker of the title, continually trying to pair people up. (This isn't apparent until the second half of the novel; up till then, Gibbons is describing how Alda and the girls settle in and establishing the characters of those around them, including the Italian prisoners of war working on the neighbouring farm.)
No one who reads this novel now, as forgotten as the aspect of post-War Britain it describes, is likely to be unfamiliar with Cold Comfort Farm. This makes it virtually impossible to read without constantly comparing the two. There are obvious links - both being about the English countryside, portraying it without the sentimentality that pastoral themes often evoke (Cold Comfort Farm is in part an attack on this tendency) - but at first there seem to be more differences. For a start, The Matchmaker doesn't seem to be funny. It is only towards the end, when Alda is shown up as being so bad at fixing people up that the novel begins to amuse, and even then the fun is tempered by the realisation of how much damage this sort of manipulation can do to people. It isn't a parody, but its publication date is close enough to the date at which it is set for it to require knowledge in the reader, just as a parody does; if it were a historical novel published now, The Matchmaker would contain a great deal more explanation. It is a competent and enjoyable novel, and yet it is easy to see that the spark of outrageous humour present in Cold Comfort Farm is missing; that is why one novel has been remembered while the other is forgotten.
Stella Gibbons is overwhelmingly best known as the author of the hilarious Cold Comfort Farm; so much so that I was surprised to discover the existence of another novel. (It was in a furniture shop, one of a number of old second hand books used to make bookcase shelves look less bare; the shop assistant offered it to me when I picked it up and started looking through it.)
There are many stories about how people endured hardship during the Second World War; less well remembered (as less glamorous) is that life continued to be difficult for many people for some years following its end. In Britain, it was the first war accompanied by massive destruction at home for centuries (since the Civil War in England, or the Jacobean rising in Scotland). Many families were bombed out, and food rationing continued for years. The Matchmaker, published in 1949, is about one such family, driven from a middle class existence to a poor cottage in the country, and the people that they meet in the neighbourhood.
The father of the three girls is still in the army, on duty in occupied Germany, so the main focus is on their mother, Alda. She is the incorrigible matchmaker of the title, continually trying to pair people up. (This isn't apparent until the second half of the novel; up till then, Gibbons is describing how Alda and the girls settle in and establishing the characters of those around them, including the Italian prisoners of war working on the neighbouring farm.)
No one who reads this novel now, as forgotten as the aspect of post-War Britain it describes, is likely to be unfamiliar with Cold Comfort Farm. This makes it virtually impossible to read without constantly comparing the two. There are obvious links - both being about the English countryside, portraying it without the sentimentality that pastoral themes often evoke (Cold Comfort Farm is in part an attack on this tendency) - but at first there seem to be more differences. For a start, The Matchmaker doesn't seem to be funny. It is only towards the end, when Alda is shown up as being so bad at fixing people up that the novel begins to amuse, and even then the fun is tempered by the realisation of how much damage this sort of manipulation can do to people. It isn't a parody, but its publication date is close enough to the date at which it is set for it to require knowledge in the reader, just as a parody does; if it were a historical novel published now, The Matchmaker would contain a great deal more explanation. It is a competent and enjoyable novel, and yet it is easy to see that the spark of outrageous humour present in Cold Comfort Farm is missing; that is why one novel has been remembered while the other is forgotten.
November 8, 2022
Delightful rural tale, set in post War England. A wonderful set of characters, lots of verbal visual treats, and many amusing moments.
October 23, 2015
I'm sorry to rate a Stella Gibbons book as a three but this one did drag a bit for me and I found Alda and Sylvia's characters annoying. Some nice parts of after war life though.
October 26, 2022
Mildly amusing but I was slightly disappointed as I expected more from Stella Gibbons.
She paints an interesting picture of the post war period, with much making do and mending in evidence. Clothes have to be made from any begged or borrowed cloth available and damp walls must be overlooked in the shadows of a cheerful fire.
She seems to have fun creating characters who are larger than life, flaws and all. She obviously would like us to draw parallels between the arrogant and proud Mr Waite and Mr Darcy - she even points out the connection at one point! I did love some of the family scenes, including the bossy little Meg who refers to herself in the third person.
Perhaps she even goes a little too far with her warts and all portrayals. Some of them are spectacularly rude to one another (unbelievably so?). Perhpas the main issue for me is that Alda, the main character and matchmaker of the title, becomes so annoying in her meddling, that I really didn't like her at all in the end. The speed at which they seem to decide to become engaged and disengaged is alarming and frankly unkind!
It has been said by others here but I agree that the Italian characters are less truthfully drawn and rely fairly heavily on stereotypes (note that there is derogatory language of the period). I thought it very odd that half way through the book she begins to have them talk to one another using thee, thy, thou!!!
Not her finest.
She paints an interesting picture of the post war period, with much making do and mending in evidence. Clothes have to be made from any begged or borrowed cloth available and damp walls must be overlooked in the shadows of a cheerful fire.
She seems to have fun creating characters who are larger than life, flaws and all. She obviously would like us to draw parallels between the arrogant and proud Mr Waite and Mr Darcy - she even points out the connection at one point! I did love some of the family scenes, including the bossy little Meg who refers to herself in the third person.
Perhaps she even goes a little too far with her warts and all portrayals. Some of them are spectacularly rude to one another (unbelievably so?). Perhpas the main issue for me is that Alda, the main character and matchmaker of the title, becomes so annoying in her meddling, that I really didn't like her at all in the end. The speed at which they seem to decide to become engaged and disengaged is alarming and frankly unkind!
It has been said by others here but I agree that the Italian characters are less truthfully drawn and rely fairly heavily on stereotypes (note that there is derogatory language of the period). I thought it very odd that half way through the book she begins to have them talk to one another using thee, thy, thou!!!
Not her finest.
July 2, 2014
This one didn't write exactly as expected. As a later novel of Gibbons, I can see a much more descriptive writing style developing. Although I enjoyed parts of this, and was really able to visualize everything, at times I felt myself wanting her to get to the point! But, this novel is really about life in the English countryside after the war. It's about a group of people, who I never felt I cared for 100%, which made it seem like a really realistic way life and humans are. This book may move too slowly for some readers, and had I not known Gibbons style before, I can see where some would have given up the novel entirely. But, I'd say give it a chance. It's going to build, and perhaps may give you some pleasant surprises along the way.
April 26, 2020
3.5 stars
A bit slow in parts—which is saying something since I love slow-moving books—but amusing nonetheless. Humorous but with a slightly dark edge to it. Also loved how the author would break the fourth wall occasionally to address the readers à la Anthony Trollope. But my favourite element from the book was the pastoral setting and the best part of the whole reading experience was reading the lush descriptions of nature and the landscape. Completely immersive and made me almost weep with longing for my home in the country.
A bit slow in parts—which is saying something since I love slow-moving books—but amusing nonetheless. Humorous but with a slightly dark edge to it. Also loved how the author would break the fourth wall occasionally to address the readers à la Anthony Trollope. But my favourite element from the book was the pastoral setting and the best part of the whole reading experience was reading the lush descriptions of nature and the landscape. Completely immersive and made me almost weep with longing for my home in the country.
June 15, 2012
love this story - love the way that Alva gets everyones lovelives so wrong and blames everyone else but herself for the mess that ensues - shades of Emma, i think!
June 12, 2024
I chose this book because of the cover, and I suppose its bright red spine as well, and the perfect thickness of it. it's a really attractive paperback. I think I read cold comfort farm at some point, though I don't remember a thing about it.
I was quite enamored of it at first - she has flashes of brilliance as a writer, where she describes a child's behavior just so. we start off with alda, the matchmaker of the title, a cheery but very human wife and mother of three girls, moving into a dreadful cottage in the sussex countryside after her london home is destroyed in the war. it's set in the aftermath of world war II, with italian prisoners of war working on farms as everyone tries to overcome scarcity. alda's husband is still in the military and away for most of the book. however, gibbons isn't afraid to abandon alda for her other characters' perspectives and we hop around a bit.
the first thing that put me off was an egregious and completely unnecessary bigoted diatribe against the romani, later, a contemporary slur against italians was used a couple of times, but with the understanding that the character using it is behaving very badly. there is a cafe in town frequented by romani; none of them are described as individuals and the passage just sticks out as gibbons spouting her own vitriol.
then it bogged down a bit. it is 424 pages long and the middle section is a bit slow. she's at her best, I think, describing the children and their goings on, she's very gifted at that. her descriptions of the countryside are lovely. her characters are all quite flawed and very human, and she makes them all quite different from one another.
I don't know what I want to do with it now. physically, it's a very appealing book. it's humorous and light, overall. it's really a shame to have that outburst against the romani in it; this is a 2012 edition (originally published in 1949). I'm not sure how I feel about changing roald dahl around to take out the bits equating fatness - or indeed thinness - with negative character traits, but this to me seems pretty cut and dried, it could easily be lifted out of the book, which would lose nothing except a blight.
I was quite enamored of it at first - she has flashes of brilliance as a writer, where she describes a child's behavior just so. we start off with alda, the matchmaker of the title, a cheery but very human wife and mother of three girls, moving into a dreadful cottage in the sussex countryside after her london home is destroyed in the war. it's set in the aftermath of world war II, with italian prisoners of war working on farms as everyone tries to overcome scarcity. alda's husband is still in the military and away for most of the book. however, gibbons isn't afraid to abandon alda for her other characters' perspectives and we hop around a bit.
the first thing that put me off was an egregious and completely unnecessary bigoted diatribe against the romani, later, a contemporary slur against italians was used a couple of times, but with the understanding that the character using it is behaving very badly. there is a cafe in town frequented by romani; none of them are described as individuals and the passage just sticks out as gibbons spouting her own vitriol.
then it bogged down a bit. it is 424 pages long and the middle section is a bit slow. she's at her best, I think, describing the children and their goings on, she's very gifted at that. her descriptions of the countryside are lovely. her characters are all quite flawed and very human, and she makes them all quite different from one another.
I don't know what I want to do with it now. physically, it's a very appealing book. it's humorous and light, overall. it's really a shame to have that outburst against the romani in it; this is a 2012 edition (originally published in 1949). I'm not sure how I feel about changing roald dahl around to take out the bits equating fatness - or indeed thinness - with negative character traits, but this to me seems pretty cut and dried, it could easily be lifted out of the book, which would lose nothing except a blight.
November 4, 2017
Stella Gibbons was a brilliant but, in my opinion, rather uneven writer. Her use of language, and evocation of her characters as real people, is always impressive. Anyone wanting to learn more about the mechanics of good prose, can learn a lot from reading a few of her works. However, for me, the satisfyingness of her stories vary quite a lot. This one did not click with me. I kept having the feeling that it was meant to be a different sort of story, but "got away from her". It is set in a dismal time and place: England in the countryside, directly post-war, when the scarcity of material comforts - even food - dominated daily life. As a study of what it's like to live in a country that has endured years of war, it could read as a cautionary tale, for those who have not studied history, and don't see what's wrong with repeating it. (Americans, take note.) One thing I never knew till this book, is that young Italian men who were prisoners of war, were basically being used as slave labor on English farms. They were, it seems actually paid a pittance (so, not "real" chattel slaves). But they were not free to go home (seems they had to "work off" their passage home, like indentured servants), not free to NOT work, and not even free to change employers if they didn't like the work, or the conditions of their lodging, or the rude, xenophobic and verbally abusive way the "employer" was treating them.
July 8, 2022
Stella Gibbons knew and loved the English countryside as well as any writer. There’s a touch of Hardy’s admiration for ancient farming traditions along with Wordworth-ian raptures over sky, fields and flowers. But Gibbons is also the master of retelling the city mouse/country mouse fable. Best known for Cold Comfort Farm, Gibbons, in this novel (which is terribly mistitled), shows two couples struggling to fall in love in the post-WWII Sussex countryside. The first couple consists of Jean, a glamorous city girl, wealthy and lost, and her neighbor, the handsome, sullen Mr. Waites, who comes from a family whose business has failed. Meanwhile, a would-be London actress, Sylvia, joins the Civilian Land Army to help with food production and is placed at another nearby farm with an Italian prisoner of war. She is a Hollywood-loving Communist, brassy and vulgar, while he is a poor peasant with old-fashioned and deeply conservative views. Will these unlikely romances blossom or implode? The novel could be summed up as a Post-War version of a Jane Austen novel. Gibbons is especially insightful about how men and women think differently and is good at developing complex characters that are not wholly sympathetic. At times Gibbons bites off more than she can chew (there’s a whole religious sub-theme running through this book that comes to nothing), but overall given the length of the book (over 400 pages) and the slight plot, it is entertaining and well done.
September 3, 2022
I am normally the most enormous fan of Stella Gibbons but I found this book quite frustrating.
The positives were the masterly characterisation especially the portrayal of the characters' histories and inner lives. Gibbons does this really well and example of this is Jean's acceptance of religion and Alda's amused complacency. I also enjoyed the beautiful rural setting in the different seasons as well as all of the food (and their anxieties about whether there will be enough!). Gibbons celebrates the middle class post-war cosy lifestyle here, dwelling much more on hearth and home comforts rather than the damp and mould and the horrible furniture.
I felt more negatively about the two Italian characters who were much less developed than the English ones. They also spoke to each other in a ridiculous 'thou art' way whereas obviously two fellow working men would use the familiar form.
Not one of her best but still intriguing. The overall message seems to be about seeing what's in front of you and not idealising your lover. And also - don't meddle in the romantic affairs of others (especially when they are a different social class to you)!
I think we can all agree that this is good advice.
The positives were the masterly characterisation especially the portrayal of the characters' histories and inner lives. Gibbons does this really well and example of this is Jean's acceptance of religion and Alda's amused complacency. I also enjoyed the beautiful rural setting in the different seasons as well as all of the food (and their anxieties about whether there will be enough!). Gibbons celebrates the middle class post-war cosy lifestyle here, dwelling much more on hearth and home comforts rather than the damp and mould and the horrible furniture.
I felt more negatively about the two Italian characters who were much less developed than the English ones. They also spoke to each other in a ridiculous 'thou art' way whereas obviously two fellow working men would use the familiar form.
Not one of her best but still intriguing. The overall message seems to be about seeing what's in front of you and not idealising your lover. And also - don't meddle in the romantic affairs of others (especially when they are a different social class to you)!
I think we can all agree that this is good advice.
March 31, 2025
Absolutely loved this. It was long and meandering and dwelt comfortably in it's almost hardyesque landscape ;qualities I prize in post war lit especially when the setting is such a beguiling one...Alda is reminiscent of Emma (Woodhouse), but is her very own(rather colourful)person. I liked Mr. Waite, decent, honest, hardworking but anodyne and a very real type of gentleman: sadly a dying breed these days. I loved Jean, forthright, brave and not afraid to have fun or face the truth, or embrace a spiritual awakening..
I adore poking about old churches (the older the better) and 'that bit' really spoke to me.....no spoilers..
And then the lives of land girls and POW's and English farms....The run away hens and dear little Megsy made me smile long after I had shut the book and settled down to sleep. I don't have time for a proper review as I'm afflicted with a most unrelenting God-awful cold... I read the last few chapters when paracetamol had provided a few restful hours before the fevered deeps claimed my consciousness again.
Ps ohhhhh the priceless list of war time songs.....
I adore poking about old churches (the older the better) and 'that bit' really spoke to me.....no spoilers..
And then the lives of land girls and POW's and English farms....The run away hens and dear little Megsy made me smile long after I had shut the book and settled down to sleep. I don't have time for a proper review as I'm afflicted with a most unrelenting God-awful cold... I read the last few chapters when paracetamol had provided a few restful hours before the fevered deeps claimed my consciousness again.
Ps ohhhhh the priceless list of war time songs.....
April 18, 2019
I think overall the book was well written with interesting characters that are well-developed and lovely descriptions of the scenery. All the characters are dysfunctional, and there are times you like them and times you hate them, but generally the right ones had their happy ending.
I have read books where I loved them so much and couldn't put them down, and I have read books that I just plod along with and eventually reach the end. This was a 'plod' book. Most of it was just about the everyday lives of a group of people in England, post WW2, and overall there was little excitement. I happily read to find out about their lives, but there wasn't any real "I have to know what happens" moments that kept me grabbing for it.
I started another book of hers - westwood - and stopped halfway through because I didn't really like any of the characters and, therefore, didn't really care what happened to them, but this one I liked enough of them to plod through.
I am glad it is done, though, and I can move on to a more interesting author.
I have read books where I loved them so much and couldn't put them down, and I have read books that I just plod along with and eventually reach the end. This was a 'plod' book. Most of it was just about the everyday lives of a group of people in England, post WW2, and overall there was little excitement. I happily read to find out about their lives, but there wasn't any real "I have to know what happens" moments that kept me grabbing for it.
I started another book of hers - westwood - and stopped halfway through because I didn't really like any of the characters and, therefore, didn't really care what happened to them, but this one I liked enough of them to plod through.
I am glad it is done, though, and I can move on to a more interesting author.
August 7, 2021
This was my first book of Gibbons', and she is a writer I definitely want to explore more.
The Matchmaker is a fun, light story with a fun array of characters. - Alda, the quasi-protagonist and self proclaimed titular matchmaker, is interesting to read. Whilst she is definitely an intelligent, modern woman in many ways, she occasionally comes accross as quite an irritating busybody and know-it-all. But that does not alter how delightful she and her daughters are, and what a charming story Gibbons weaves around them.
I was actually most intrigued by the relationship of Jean Hardcastle and Philip Waite, as that gave me the impression of being an interesting, but not taxing, battle of the sexes. Waite, with his archaic views comes up against Alda and Jean and their much more modern ways. I am glad that things develop the way I do.
Gibbons is a delight in giving us real, fleshed out characters who are not wholly "good" or "bad", but are nuanced and feel charmingly real. And she evokes the rural year beautifully, weaving post-war issues into a neat pastoral romp.
The Matchmaker is a fun, light story with a fun array of characters. - Alda, the quasi-protagonist and self proclaimed titular matchmaker, is interesting to read. Whilst she is definitely an intelligent, modern woman in many ways, she occasionally comes accross as quite an irritating busybody and know-it-all. But that does not alter how delightful she and her daughters are, and what a charming story Gibbons weaves around them.
I was actually most intrigued by the relationship of Jean Hardcastle and Philip Waite, as that gave me the impression of being an interesting, but not taxing, battle of the sexes. Waite, with his archaic views comes up against Alda and Jean and their much more modern ways. I am glad that things develop the way I do.
Gibbons is a delight in giving us real, fleshed out characters who are not wholly "good" or "bad", but are nuanced and feel charmingly real. And she evokes the rural year beautifully, weaving post-war issues into a neat pastoral romp.
July 19, 2018
I have very mixed feelings about this book. I think that Gibbons writes very realistic characters - they're very flawed, but all have likeable moments and I think she captures that complexity well. She depicts the little cruelties that people are capable of (intentional or otherwise) and how we all mess ourselves (and everyone else) up a bit. However they don't feel real - it always felt like there was a screen between the reader and them. I also found that I got really into the story every time I was reading it. But I could only manage a certain quantity at a time and it left me with a very sour feeling. Overall, I didn't really like it.
April 25, 2023
The descriptions are gorgeously detailed and the characters very realistically drawn out. You're in the environment almost immediately and it is a skillful telling of times post war. But the plot drags in so many parts that it wasn't until I was two-thirds in - a feat I commend myself on because at times I had to force myself to return to it - that I started to feel for the people described, and wonder how it would all turn out for them.
Spoiler alert - I found Alda so annoying towards the end, which is precisely the effect I believe Gibbons was going for but it comes far too late into the novel if the title is Matchmaker.
Spoiler alert - I found Alda so annoying towards the end, which is precisely the effect I believe Gibbons was going for but it comes far too late into the novel if the title is Matchmaker.
January 8, 2020
Stella Gibbons' distinctive voice is the main thing that saves this book from being lower than 3.5 stars for me (the half star is for having one of her characters quote Cold Comfort Farm). Her humour and incisive view of human nature make up for the overly long descriptions of countryside, the mainly unpleasant characters (to be fair, all her books are filled with these), and the lagging plot. Sadly not my favourite Gibbons novel.
March 23, 2025
Alda Lucie-Brown makes a thoroughly annoying (although in some respects admirable) main character. She freely interferes in the lives of those around her, quite certain that she knows best how they are to live their lives. Some of the other characters were more engaging, though, and the story gives an interesting and compound glimpse of rural life during and right after WWII. Not as funny as Cold Comfort Farm, this is a slow-paced novel, highlighted now and then with rural gossip and drama.
June 15, 2019
*Actual rating 3.5*
It took me a while to get into this book and while it doesn’t compare to Cold Comfort Farm for me it was still a good read. I frequently found myself smiling along as I read and while the characters were less loveable than in Cold Comfort Farm the narrative style still made me want to find out what would happen to them.
It took me a while to get into this book and while it doesn’t compare to Cold Comfort Farm for me it was still a good read. I frequently found myself smiling along as I read and while the characters were less loveable than in Cold Comfort Farm the narrative style still made me want to find out what would happen to them.
May 27, 2019
A great romp through the British post war country side. Caricatures aplenty yet all quite believable. Some glorious set pieces. None of the matches are quite made in heaven - but does it really matter?
April 20, 2025
A fun story - took a while to get going and longer than it needed to be, felt like something people used to pass the time pre TV. Some lovely passages about life in the English countryside and witty lined but nowhere near as funny and Cold Comfort Farm.
August 18, 2025
It was just ultimately very slow.
We got some of that satire that she's known for, and it was interesting just to hear about ordinary life in the aftermath of the second world war. It was a real slice of life. And the last quarter was good and fun, it just took a long time to get there.
We got some of that satire that she's known for, and it was interesting just to hear about ordinary life in the aftermath of the second world war. It was a real slice of life. And the last quarter was good and fun, it just took a long time to get there.
January 7, 2019
The story line had such great potential but just fell flat. The characters never evolved and the idea of 1940s Italians speaking Shakespearean English was absurd.
April 30, 2020
Entertaining and surprising. There are Jane Austen references.
July 22, 2025
Yeah, I’m still obsessed with novels about unconventional women with even quirkier kids who move to a strange village and develop relationships with its strange inhabitants. Feels like Austen at times, then the Brontes, then something completely different that’s more in line with Waugh or Wodehouse at their best. ‘Cold Comfort Farm’ will forever be my ride or die from Gibbons’ work but this was a very close second!
July 23, 2016
Stella Gibbons' "The Matchmaker" is actually a solid 3.5 stars, but I rounded down because "Cold Comfort Farm" and "Nightingale Wood" are such excellent books, that I really expected this to be better. "The Matchmaker" was a little slow in parts, and Alda as the eponymous character was a bit vague and ill-defined to me. She actually didn't engage in much matchmaking at all, and spent most of the novel caring for and thinking about her -- admittedly delightful -- daughters (my favorite characters of the book).
For me, Jean and Sylvia were both more interesting than Alda, but even they were a bit dull. Jean just seemed to tumble into her happy ending a bit accidentally, almost as if she was settling. But Sylvia in particular was a puzzle for me, because I couldn't figure out whether Gibbons intended her to be a sympathetic character or not. I liked Sylvia and her tomboy nature quite a bit, but Gibbons seems to think that the qualities I admired in her were flaws. In contrast, Fabrio and his romantic, not-based-in-reality perceptions of Sylvia irritated me, while Gibbons seems to present him as an admirable hero who would have been good for her.
I didn't have an opinion at all about Mr. Waite. He was neither admirable nor exasperating.
And in a way, my ambivalence about these characters and their relationships (which seemed based more on mere proximity than actual character compatibility -- I wasn't actually rooting for any couple to get together) is one of "The Matchmaker"'s strengths. If Gibbons was attempting to accurately portray real people, with all their flaws and strengths, she succeeded admirably. After all, I don't care much one way or another for most of the people I meet, while most people do seem to establish relationships with people that they just happen to have in their lives. And "The Matchmaker" depicts post-WWII England excellently, with all its hardships and hopes.
So recommended for Gibbons fans and for those who want to get an idea of life in this particular time and place. Particularly recommended for those who enjoy cozy stories but nevertheless have a somewhat dim or cynical view of human nature.
For me, Jean and Sylvia were both more interesting than Alda, but even they were a bit dull. Jean just seemed to tumble into her happy ending a bit accidentally, almost as if she was settling. But Sylvia in particular was a puzzle for me, because I couldn't figure out whether Gibbons intended her to be a sympathetic character or not. I liked Sylvia and her tomboy nature quite a bit, but Gibbons seems to think that the qualities I admired in her were flaws. In contrast, Fabrio and his romantic, not-based-in-reality perceptions of Sylvia irritated me, while Gibbons seems to present him as an admirable hero who would have been good for her.
I didn't have an opinion at all about Mr. Waite. He was neither admirable nor exasperating.
And in a way, my ambivalence about these characters and their relationships (which seemed based more on mere proximity than actual character compatibility -- I wasn't actually rooting for any couple to get together) is one of "The Matchmaker"'s strengths. If Gibbons was attempting to accurately portray real people, with all their flaws and strengths, she succeeded admirably. After all, I don't care much one way or another for most of the people I meet, while most people do seem to establish relationships with people that they just happen to have in their lives. And "The Matchmaker" depicts post-WWII England excellently, with all its hardships and hopes.
So recommended for Gibbons fans and for those who want to get an idea of life in this particular time and place. Particularly recommended for those who enjoy cozy stories but nevertheless have a somewhat dim or cynical view of human nature.
February 14, 2017
I love Cold Comfort Farm but have recently been working my way through Gibbons' later novels. This is one of the better ones. I found it quite a nuanced portrayal of some character types and their relationships as well as being a fascinating time capsule of life in that time and place (post war UK countryside). I was strongly reminded of Barbara Pym.
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