by Alison Espach (Author)

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A Today Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club Pick

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.

Review

“The Wedding People is the perfect book to wrap up your summer reading. . . . heartwarming [and] hilarious.”―Jenna Bush Hager, The Today Show's #ReadwithJenna

“A collision of diametrically opposed life events and general drama, the likes of which we haven’t seen since Maggie Shipstead’s Seating Arrangements. . . . Espach has an eye for the full gamut of emotions that go hand in hand with lifelong commitment, from humor to self-involvement to pathos.”―Elisabeth Egan, The New York Times Book Review

“Espach’s wit and warmth deliver a gratifying story about how people who have given up might find a reason to start caring again.”―Becky Meloan, The Washington Post

“Deeply satisfying. . . . A story of what it means to lift oneself out of one life and into another through acts of individual will and fellowship with others. . . . Espach is now three for three on delivering funny, emotionally moving explorations of the difficulties people have in being themselves.”―John Warner, Chicago Tribune

“A feel-good testament to the life-altering magic of chance meetings.”―People

“Full of witty dialogue and lovably imperfect characters you’ll root for till the end.”―Real Simple

“They say a good actor can read a phone book and still keep an audience spellbound. Alison Espach is that kind of writer. She is a master of taking the seemingly mundane and creating moments that transfix.”―Maren Longbella, Star Tribune

Categories : Women's Divorce Fiction, Women's Humorous Fiction, Dark Humor

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CJ839C56

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Henry Holt and Co. (July 30, 2024)

Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 30, 2024

Language ‏ : ‎ English

File‏ : ‎EPUB, 1.35 MB

Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported

Print length ‏ : ‎ 355 pages