The Donkey Farmer’s Magical Matchmaking Book

In the era of online dating, one septuagenarian Irishman clings tight to a method passed down through the generations—and thousands of happy couples are luckier for it.

Photos by Julie Carr | Edited by Brendan Spiegel

Willie Daly stands next to the pub’s roaring fire, giving precise instructions to the crowd gathered around him. When it’s your turn to touch the worn, yellowing, 160-year-old book, it’s important to close your eyes and really concentrate, Daly explains in his thick Irish accent. Both palms should make contact with the cover of the magical book for at least seven seconds. If you follow these steps, Daly continues, love has a way of finding you, sometimes rather quickly.

Anthony Denihan presses his palms to the book and immediately declares how warm it feels, which convinces him it’s working. “My hands are tingly now,” he says.

This is far from Denihan’s first time relying on the book for luck in love. Originally from Ireland, Denihan now lives in Manhattan, and he’s come here, to the Black Rabbit pub in Brooklyn, for a special event with Daly, a traditional Irish matchmaker he’s turned to many times before. For the past 20 years, Denihan h…