Mrs. Hart’s Marriage Bureau by Sheena Wilkinson 18/20 Books of Summer

In this historical novel set between the wars, an outgoing young woman finds a new career as a matchmaker. When April McVey’s father dies, she and her mother are disgraced and practically penniless and leave Ireland to live with an aunt in Manchester. It’s a roof over their head but April knows she needs to establish her independence and applies for a position with Mrs. Hart’s matrimonial bureau, a short train ride away. 

Mrs. Hart, a widow, likes the outgoing April and knows her small business needs modernization; she neglected it when caring for her dying mother. Mrs. Hart started the bureau after WWI to help disabled soldiers interested in marriage but intimidated about inflicting their injuries on a wife. Having lost her own husband after just 11 days together before he died in combat, Martha Hart had needed distraction herself:

“I like to be busy,” Martha went on. “I need to be busy. And I can’t pretend the bureau makes a fortune, but it pays its way and I do think we provide a vital service. In 1926,” she reminisced, “I went to seventeen weddings, all of my own making.”

April’s eyes widened. “Ah now, you wouldn’t make me go to weddings, would you?” she asked as if Martha was expecting her to visit an abattoir in the course of duty.

April isn’t as refined as her new boss would like and has a slightly annoying habit of telling long stories about her Irish hometown but Martha appreciates the young woman’s enthusiasm and hires her.

Chatty April settles in at Easterbridge, bringing in clients, making friends with her new landlady, Felicity, a writer; Felicity’s brother, Fabian, a very eligible widower; and Fabian’s daughter, who has just run away from boarding school again.  April is creative in her matchmaking – this means ignoring class difference, which shocks Martha at first, but both women are delighted with their happy customers. Fabian likes the newcomer and approves of her influence on his daughter but April surprises him with her modern opinions:

“Felicity works at the things she wants to work at,” Fabian said, “but she does things very much on her own terms.”

“Sure who else’s terms should she do things on?” She sounded suddenly fierce and he saw, fleetingly, the girl who had nabbed his taxi. “And would you say that if she were a man?”

He raised his hands in a gesture of mock self-defense. How funny. He had thought of her as a quaint, old-fashioned Irish lass, unpolished, fresh from the farm, but she was clearly what his late mother would have called one of those new women.

Soon Fabian thinks April would be a good replacement mother for his daughter. April’s predecessor left after marrying one of the clients so that seems like the expected outcome for this story as well but Wilkinson has a few surprises for the reader!  

This entertaining book was one of my 20 Books of Summer. I am determined to complete them by the end of the year.  

It is also my 27th book for Marg's Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

Title: Mrs. Hart’s Marriage Bureau
Author: Sheena Wilkinson is fellow school story fan.  I am eager to read First Term at Fernside coming out next month!
Publication: HarperCollins Ireland, paperback, 2023
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: Personal copy