ABOUT THE BOOK:
Eat, Pray, Love meets The Rosie Project in this fresh, heartwarming memoir by a man who travels to Verona and volunteers to answer letters addressed to Shakespeare’s Juliet, all in an attempt to heal his own heartbreak.
When Glenn Dixon is spurned by love, he packs his bags for Verona, Italy. Once there, he volunteers to answer the thousands of letters that arrive addressed to Juliet—letters sent from lovelorn people all over the world to Juliet’s hometown; people who long to understand the mysteries of the human heart.
Glenn’s journey takes him deep into the charming community of Verona, where he becomes involved in unraveling the truth behind Romeo and Juliet. Did these star-crossed lovers actually exist? Why have they remained at the forefront of hearts and minds for centuries? And what can they teach us about love?
When Glenn returns home to Canada and resumes his duties as an English teacher, he undertakes a lively reading of Romeo and Juliet with his students, engaging them in passions past and present. But in an intriguing reversal of fate and fortune, his students—along with an old friend—instruct the teacher on the true meaning of love, loss, and moving on.
An enthralling tale of modern-day love steeped in the romantic traditions of eras past, this is a memoir that will warm your heart.
READ AN EXCERPT:
MY REVIEW:
Juliet's Answer: One Man's Search for Love and the Elusive Cure for Heartbreak by Glenn DixonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Juliet’s Answer by Glenn Dixon is a 2017 Gallery Books Publication
This memoir tells the amazing journey taken by Glenn Dixon, a school teacher, from Canada, who volunteers to read and respond to letters written to Shakespeare’s Juliet while visiting Verona, Italy.
These letters are filled with vulnerability, suffering, loneliness, and sometimes despair, of those who have lost love, are broken hearted, or simply unsure if what they are feeling is the real deal or a passing attraction.
At first Glenn struggles with his responses to these letters, but soon finds himself pouring his heart into his careful and thoughtful answers on behalf of Juliet. But, he also finds the work cathartic as he struggles through his own unrequited love situation.
‘A glooming peace this morning with it brings; The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head. For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”
The Dixon’s narrative switches back and forth between this time in Verona and the time he spends with his students, teaching them the finer points of Romeo and Juliet.
Romance and love is messy, it’s complicated, painful, filled with angst and uncertainty, but it’s also the one thing we wish for above all others.
Glenn’s story is filled with such raw and poignant emotion, while touching on the human condition and mysterious ways love manages to find us when we are least expecting it.
I loved Dixon's teaching style, his connection with his students, his love of literature, and his openness as he recalls the pain of lost love, the lessons life teaches when we are at our lowest points, and how to rebound from that by applying the wisdom we acquire along with way and letting life work things out the way they are intended to be even if it’s exactly how you thought things would end up.
THE BRONZE JULIET STATUE IN VERONA, ITALY:
I loved the history of Verona and the virtual tour Glenn took me on, highlighting locations and monuments closely tied to Romeo and Juliet. The setting created the perfect backdrop for this story.
The letters were reminders of the various ways love touches us, the insecurities it draws out, the fear love will pass us by, but the story also offers a resolution, offers hope, exuberance and peace, and the assurance that love will find you in its own time.
While the book is very light and easy, it also left me pondering the miracle that is love. Watching Glenn find the happiness he felt was so elusive is inspirational, charming, and heartwarming.
I was delighted by his story and I’m glad he chose to share it with us.
4 stars.
I received a copy of this book as an XOXOpert, the official street team of XOXO After Dark
https://www.amazon.com/Juliets-Answer-Search-Elusive-Heartbreak-ebook/dp/B01E4BC1Q6
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/juliets-answer-glenn-dixon/1124485339
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Glenn Dixon's latest book is "Juliet's Answer" (Simon and Schuster, January 2017). As the lone male secretary at the Club di Giulietta in Verona, he answered the real letters to Juliet and he learned something of love, of Shakespeare and of the sun splashed hills of this ancient Italian city.
Publishers Weekly gave his second book, "Tripping the World Fantastic", a starred rating, saying it "succeeds by connecting readers intimately with the souls of music-makers all over the world." From a trip to Bob Marley's grave in Jamaica to sitar lessons on the banks of the Ganges, Dixon tells the story of music and just why it has such a powerful effect on us all. www.tripping-the-world.com
Like a cross between Bill Bryson and Malcolm Gladwell, Dixon has written travel articles and cultural pieces for National Geographic, the New York Post, the Globe and Mail and Psychology Today.
His first book was Pilgrim in the Palace of Words: a journey through the 6000 languages of Earth.
He lives and works in Calgary, Canada.
