For fans of Call the Midwife and Downton Abbey, a charming and vivid portrait of the business of match-making in 1940s London, England
In the spring of 1939, with the Second World War looming, two determined twenty-four-year-olds, Heather Jenner and Mary Oliver, decided to open a marriage bureau. They found a tiny office on London’s Bond Street and set about the delicate business of match-making. Drawing on the bureau’s extensive archives, author Penrose Halson—who many years later found herself the proprietor of the bureau—tells Heather and Mary’s story, and the stories of their clients. We meet a remarkable cross-section of British society in the 1940s: gents with a “merry twinkle,” potential fifth-columnists, nervous spinsters, isolated farmers seeking “a nice quiet affekshunate girl” and girls looking “exactly” like Greta Garbo and Vivien Leigh, all desperately longing to find The One. And thanks to Heather and Mary, they almost always did just that.
A riveting glimpse of life and love during and after the war, The Marriage Bureau—which is in development for television—is not only a heart-warming and absorbing account of a world gone by, but also touches upon timeless themes. “Be it 1946 or 2016, we still worry about money, ailing parents, loneliness and finding someone to love.” (Daily Mail [UK])
Heartwarming and thoroughly absorbing true stories of romance from a world gone by
London, 1939, and the looming shadow of war made people desperate for a ray of hope. Enter Heather Jenner and Mary Oliver, two determined twenty-four-year-olds and self-appointed match-makers. Knee-deep in letters from hopeful lovers the moment they opened the doors of their marriage bureau, they set about the delicate business of match-making.
Over the 1940s, we meet a remarkable cross-section of British society: nervous spinsters, a cold-eyed German spy, an isolated farmer seeking “a nice quiet affekshunate girl” and a disfigured pilot who finds the girl of his dreams. All are desperately longing to find The One, and, thanks to Heather and Mary, they almost always do just that.
Drawing on the bureau’s extensive archives, Penrose Halson—who many years later became a client and then the proprietor of the bureau—tells Heather and Mary’s story, and the stories of their clients. The most remarkable thing of all: in ten years of creating over three thousand marriages, Heather and Mary learned of only two that ended in divorce.
Currently in development for television by the producers of Downton Abbey, The Marriage Bureau is a touching, riveting glimpse of life and love during and after the war.
"The book is a period piece in some ways but, away from the different clothes and customs, it has a contemporary ring because fundamentally, people don't change. Be it 1946 or 2016, we still worry about money, ailing parents, loneliness and finding someone to love."
