A check-in cupid worth checking out

Even before Emma Woodhouse started meddling in the love lives of others in Jane Austen’s classic novel Emma, the character type of the mischievous matchmaker had firmly secured for herself a place in popular fiction.

The matchmaker has long been an ideal conduit for observational comedy, exposing readers to various characters’ quirks and habits, and attempting to harness the vagaries of what makes us fall in love.

In her debut novel, Eithne Shortall ...