I would like to thank Gallery Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

When I saw this book come available on NetGalley, I was aware of the Secretaries of Juliet in Verona, Italy, but only from the 2010 movie Letters to Juliet. So I was rather excited to see a nonfiction book by someone who had been there and answered letters from people. (By the way, Juliet's Answer and Letters to Juliet are two entirely separate entities about the same basic subject.) My imagination was sparked several years ago by Letters to Juliet, but I never really considered it anything but a movie that I liked, though I knew it was about something real at its heart. Seeing this book, I knew I was going to learn about the real experience, and that was pretty exciting to me.

Glenn's experience in Verona was quite interesting, I thought. Most of the book deals with his experiences as a Secretary of Juliet, his time as a teacher, and his experiences around Verona. I often felt as if I were there at the table with him, answering letters to folks who had written to Juliet. I also felt as if I were in his classroom, watching the banter between his students as they studied Romeo and Juliet. I did not feel the book come to life quite as much for me when he was at the opera, or just out and about around Verona. But, he does have a few pictures on his website that you can take a peek at for a small glimpse into the beauty that the city seems to possess. Included among the pictures is the statue of Juliet, in the courtyard, that he speaks of often in the book.

By the time I was through with this book, I had looked at the website for the Juliet Club, where you can mail a letter to Juliet if you wish, which can be found here. I was looking for more information on how to write a letter of my own to Juliet, though I ultimately decided that I probably wouldn't. But, if you read the book and decide that you would like to write a letter of your own to Juliet (or if you just want to write your own letter regardless), you can find the information on how to do so at the website referenced above.

I don't read a lot of nonfiction books, to be honest, because most of them do not come alive for me the way that fiction books do...mostly because they are often fairly dry to read. I did not find that to be the case with Juliet's Answer at all. As I said before, it did not come to life perfectly the whole way through, but I still felt engaged and interested the whole way through the book, and much of it came to life in a way that most nonfiction books do not for me. I often FELT like I was reading a fiction book, and in fact, did a quick check at NetGalley to be sure that I had read the description correctly, and that it was actually nonfiction.

Overall, I feel this book is highly deserving of 4 stars. I had a very enjoyable time reading it, and I intend to seek out other books by Glenn Dixon in the future.

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and I am never compensated for my reviews.

I am sure most of you know the story of Romeo and Juliet. Whether you had to read it High School or have watched the horrendous film version starring Leonardo DiCaprio. So we all know that Romeo loved someone else until she let him down easy. Then he became infatuated with Juliet. They were star-crossed lovers. A Montague and a Capulet. Feuding families. Forbidden to be friends/lovers/acquaintances. They loved each other and ignored their families. Resulting in the death of both children. What drew me to this book honestly was the whole Verona, Italy aspect. I have said it before and I will say it again.. I LOVE ITALY. Plus, I have been to Juliet’s house during one of my trips. *Spoiler* I did not fondle Juliet’s right breast. Folklore states that if you fondle the right breast of Juliet’s statue you will have good luck in love.

This memoir follows Glenn. He was in love with his best friend who did not return his affections. Still hurt from the rejection, he decides to take a summer and goes to Verona, Italy to write letters for Club de Giulietta or Juliet Club. People leave notes or mail letters to her asking for help with love. The people of the Club answer every single letter by hand. You may remember the movie Letters to Juliet starring Amanda Seyfried that dealt with the subject. He decides to learn about love by being the only man to be a secretary for Juliet. He weaves research about love and the brain with his summer in Italy and his school year teaching Romeo and Juliet to his class. In a weird twist, his best friend returns. While he thinks things are going good between them he gets the shock of his life. He then decides to quit his teaching job of 20+ years and head back to Verona. While there he is struck by the fact that he has in fact found love again.

This book was a quick and easy read. I think I finished it in like three or four days. I wanted to know what happens next. I cried when he decided to quit his job and all the kids bombarded him with a group hug at the end. I was shocked and angry when his world collapsed around him. I was elated when he found love again with an unlikely companion. It almost makes me want to write a letter to Juliet just to get a response back–a check off the bucket list if you will. The authors writing style flows well and is easy to read. I will be picking up more books by them in the future, I have already added them to my to-read list.

FIVE STARS!

As a devoted reader involving any material that centers around the torn romance of the infamous lovers that are Romeo and Juliet I thoroughly loved, "Juliet's Answers."

This nonfiction novel tells the story of the author, Glenn Dixon as he searches through the beautiful, adventure-filled Verona, Italy for the answers that might cure a broken heart. In my opinion Dixon doesn't exactly find the antidote, but he does manage to repair most of the inner emotional damage that he was suffering when we first meet him in the book.

Dixon's journey begins when he starts answering the letters written to Juliet by millions of heartfelt people reaching out to the young woman in search of their own answers from love to lost. I was truly blown away by the magnitude of writers that are seeking responses to life's many great mysteries. My soul warmed greatly to have learned that there are still people such as Dixon himself that take the time each and everyday to reply to these same seekers. This book was such a gentle friend and I could not put it down. Dixon's writing is truly magical, deeply motivating and a true gift to his readers.

Whether or not you are suffering from the symptoms of a broken heart or would just like to be swept away into the medieval era of the modern world read this book! It's beautiful and brilliant and I will forever cherish my readings.

Glenn Dixon's memoir Juliet's Answer: One Man's Search for Love and the Elusive Cure for Heartbreak was a delightful read. Mr. Dixon, an English teacher in Canada who has taught Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet for many years to secondary students, travels to Verona, Italy, to help answer the thousands of letters that arrive addressed to Juliet from all over the world each year. As he explores the beautiful city of Verona and meets its inhabitants, and as he answers letters signing them "Juliet's Secretary", he begins to deal with his own personal heartbreak of loving someone who returns his love with friendship rather than amore. This memoir is told through three different "acts": his time in Verona, his struggle with heartbreak and search for love, and his experiences teaching the play to one of his classes (whose inhabitants are based on a compilation of character traits from former students and not individual former students he notes at the end). As a former English teacher who loves Shakespeare and has helped thousands of students explore literature, the classroom portion was very well done, and the portions about his exploration of Verona and the Casa di Giulietta ( House of Juliet ) were fascinating and added new insights to lines of the play that I have loved for decades. Mr. Dixon's style of writing is quite readable and beautifully done and flowed despite the fact that it is nonfiction. He made his story and the stories of his students and the citizens of Verona come alive. I had never heard of writing letters to Juliet and of the wonderful volunteers who spend countless hours answering them. The world seemed to have so much in common when seen through those letters! To quote Mr. Dixon: "...the sentiments were all the same. All of them were asking about love. All were asking about this soul-wrenching experience that is both our deepest sorrow and our greatest joy." The novel also contained information about which parts of the play might be based on actual characters and places in Verona and an earlier writer who might have given Shakespeare a real life scenario to base his play on. Here is a link to the publisher's well-done webpage containing a video and excerpt of the book: http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Juliets-Answer/Glenn-Dixon/9781501141850#
I highly recommend this memoir and appreciate the opportunity to review it!

I wasn't sure how I would feel about it, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised! This memoir follows the story of a high school English teacher who decides to take the summer to go to Verona, Italy and help respond to the letters that people write to Juliet. While I enjoyed the over all plot, my favorite part was the look into the history of the story in Verona and how many of the places in Romeo and Juliet do actually have a place in the history of Verona. The author managed to avoid the sap in his story, but still allow you to feel for him and his story.

I absolutely fell in love with this book. It was the perfect mix of non-fiction, psychology and real life romance mixed with the infamous story of Romeo and Juliet. Glenn wrote this book in such a way that brings you right along with him. I would love to travel to Verona, Italy and answer some letters to Juliet. Each person in this novel plays such an important role in Glenn's life and to the story itself.

I received an E-ARC of the book by the publishers through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I will be purchasing a physical copy of this book when it is released. If you liked the movie Letters to Juliet, please pick this up. If you are a believer in love, this is or you. If you have a special place in your heart for the story of Romeo and Juliet, run out and get this book.

I found the book to be open and honest. Glenn's truthfulness about his search for love and learning to let go draws you in. He has a love of Shakespeare and wanting to bring Romeo and Juliet to live for his students shows that. I loved his telling of his experiences in Verona and how the Secretary's of Juliet was developed. The history of Verona and the history of Romeo and Juliet add a depth to Glenn's experiences and make you think whether they were real people. I would recommend this book to anyone who who loves travel, history, Shakespeare and above all anyone who is trying to learn about love.

I have had this book sitting on the back-burner for a little bit. I am not sure what was holding me back from reading it, other than having an overabundance of things to read lately, but Juliet's Answer is easily one of the best books I've read in some time. The book is about Glenn Dixon's time in Verona answering some of the letters that come in from all over the world addressed to Juliet, yes that Juliet. Dixon was also a high school English teacher and had a love dilemma of his own, so this book had a few stories within the main story. I especially enjoyed the stories the people Glenn Dixon in Verona told him about what they believe to be the true origins of the story of Romeo and Juliet (could these characters could have been based on real people?). If you enjoy travel or history or just enjoy a great memoir, you'll love Juliet's Answer.

I received a copy free from NetGalley for my unbiased opinion. For a memoir it was good. It did have an Eat, Pray, Love feel. It had enough mystery in the love story to keep it going. I really enjoyed the descriptions of Italy. I love traveling and this is definitely now on my bucket list: to see Juliet's balcony in Verona. The pieces about Glenn's class seemed a little far fetched at times, but I don't know, maybe Canadian teenagers are a little more cheesy than the California one's I grew up with. Overall, it was a feel good story worth the read. I give it 3.5 stars.

Juliet’s Answer weaves three stories into one memoir by a Canadian English teacher who answers letters posted to Juliet in Verona. The letters speak of love, loss, questions, heartbreak and loneliness and most writers only want someone to listen. The ladies (and one man, our author) who answer the letters don’t try to solve problems or cure misery, they simply acknowledge the writer’s heartfelt cry.

Three Stories

Glenn Dixon volunteers in Verona because he too has a decision to make, whether to continue to hope that the woman he loved for many years will finally turn to him as more than a friend or look elsewhere. Dixon tells this first story in small vingettes scattered through the book.

Dixon teaches Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to high school students to capture their attention and get them to think. He believes that the characters’ ages – so close to those of his students – will help them see the play as real, not as yet another boring book to read in class and then forget. Dixon explores Verona while there and visits the sites where the real people behind Shakespeare’s story lived and died and are buried. He puzzles why Juliet’s story so resonates that even today people write her letters of grief and want. That is the second story.

The third story is Dixon’s students. As Glenn teaches his students the play he too learns about love and loss and his students are perceptive enough to realize this. Others get interested in the play (despite their aversion to classical literature) and are fascinated by the two young lovers.

One student, a 16 year old Moslem girl, cries quietly in class. Dixon worries about her – she is an excellent student who wants to go to college – and discovers her father is pressuring her to marry a much older man, drop out of school and forego her plans for college. Glenn and the other teachers are a bit flummoxed as they simultaneously want to respect her family’s culture yet protect the girl and help her realize her dreams, not her father’s dream. They tactfully help and the girl is able to resolve the problem with her father.

Writing Style

Juliet’s Answer is subtitled “One Man’s Search for Love and the Elusive Cure for Heartbreak” and it is a biography/memoir. Author Dixon writes of extremely personal matters, his feelings for the woman he wants, his despair because she sees him only as a friend, his uncertainty answering some of the letters, his drive to teach and educate his students, to help them grow up. I don’t know whether any of the characters are masked or are included under their real names.

Dixon writes in an easy, unaffected manner. This is hard to do with such a personal, emotionally difficult topic! Had this been a YA fiction we would have had drama and heartburn, not Dixon’s quiet misery and sense of loss. Juliet’s Answer was a far better book with its adult style and realistic sense of intimacy. (I would like some of the breathless, over-the-top YA authors to read this and see how to treat love and loneliness so we can feel right along with the characters.)

Overall

I enjoyed Juliet’s Answer, especially the sections where Dixon is teaching his students. I was never a big fan of the Romeo and Juliet story but Dixon made it lively and helped his students understand how Shakespeare wrote such that we still read him 400 years later.

The book could have been painful to read with its self-revelations; we could have felt as though we were tromping through Dixon’s life and heart, but he did a very good job maintaining a sense of privacy even when sharing personal feelings.

The ending seemed a bit out of character and not as satisfying as the rest of the stories but it still worked and brought the book to its conclusion.

Thank You to Gallery Books for providing me with an advanced copy of Glenn Dixon's memoir, Juliet's Answer, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT- Glenn Dixon has spent nearly two decades in love with his college friend, Claire. They have a deep friendship, but Claire does not return his affections, and Dixon watches from the sidelines as she falls in and out of love with several men. As he holds out hope for Claire, Dixon throws himself into his work, as a high school English teacher. Although he has found joy and satisfaction from teaching, he yearns for a change. Dixon decides to spend a summer volunteering in Verona, Italy with the Secretaries of Juliet, a group that sends handwritten responses to love letters left at the home of Juliet, the real life inspiration for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. As Dixon writes these response letters, he begins to gain clarity in his own life, giving him the courage to let go of Claire and move on from teaching.

RECOMMEND- Juliet's Answer is absolutely delightful. There are so many different components of this story that blend together beautifully. Let me break it down:

First, I had never heard of the Secretaries of Juliet or even that people left letters for Juliet. I've not been fortunate to travel to Italy (It's at the top of my travel bucket list), but I'm aware of the significance of Verona, and that you can visit Juliet's house. However, just knowing that there is a group of people that volunteer to respond to love letters, is a lovely thought, especially in our modern world. I love the idea that strangers are taking the time to impart wisdom and encouragement to other strangers via snail mail. Isn't that wonderful? It makes my heart warm.

Second, I had no idea that there is proof that Romeo and Juliet is based on a true story. How cool is that? Admittedly, it's not my favorite of Shakespeare plays and unlike Dixon, I don't think that I could find joy in teaching it to a new batch of high school students year after year, however I found it interesting that there is a historical significance. It gave me chills, especially the reference to Dante.

Third, Dixon is a likable narrator. I had hope for him that he would let go of Claire, and I was thrilled for him at the end of Juliet's Answer, when he had found happiness. His is a story of leaving comfort zones and taking leaps of faith. His passion for his students and his love of Shakespeare jumped off of the page during the classroom scenes. As he was trying to engage his students during their reading of Romeo and Juliet, I felt tricked. I was starting to become swept away by his enthusiasm, giving me pause in rethinking my decades old disdain for the play.

DISLIKE- Nothing. Juliet's Answer is entertaining and heartwarming.

RECOMMEND- Yes! I know it's early in 2017, but surely Juliet's Answer will be one of my favorite books of the year. Dixon is an affable protagonist and Juliet's Answer is a combination of so many things that I love = lush travelogue, history, literature, snail mail, love story, et... An all-around winning memoir.