Juliet’s Answer: One Man’s Search for Love and the Elusive Cure for Heartbreak

Dixon’s tiresome and repetitious tale of the quest for solace and love can be summed up quickly in a few words: man falls in love, woman doesn’t return love, heartbroken man goes to Verona searching for solace. When Claire spurns Dixon’s love, he sets off for Verona—the setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet—to help members of the Club di Giulietta answer the thousands of letters to Juliet from the lovelorn that arrive annually. All he brings with him are a broken heart, a smattering of Italian, and a lifetime of teaching Romeo and Juliet. After a few months in Verona, he returns to Canada, and, encouraged by the letters he’s reading, he writes his own letter to Juliet, and “Juliet” advises him that love arising from a long friendship is the most genuine kind. His hopes that this advice will bear fruit for him and Claire are soon dashed when she gets pregnant and marries someone else. Dejected, Dixon returns to Verona to answer more letters, though not before renewing his friendship with Desiree, who soon joins him in Verona, where the star-crossed lovers soon kiss on Juliet’s balcony. In the end, this light narrative feels artificially filled out. (Feb.)