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Shop nowThe Wedding People
A Novel
Narrator
Helen Laser
This audiobook uses AI narration.
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Length
TBA
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“Things I did not anticipate saying this year #435: 'This book that begins with a woman set on committing suicide at a seaside hotel in Newport was a really fun read!' Of course, that sentence massively oversimplifies Alison Espach’s newest novel; The Wedding People is a book that begins with our narrator, Phoebe, traveling to her pre-booked super fancy ocean-view deathbed, but that is only the beginning. It is her happenstance meetup in the elevator with The Bride (who was under the impression she had booked the entire hotel) that begins an unlikely friendship based on the radical honesty of people who feel they’ve reached the finish line. Espach navigates the difficult topics of suicide ideation, depression, infertility, economic uncertainty, and infidelity with incredible empathy, managing to impart a dark comedy without ever mocking mental health or the incredible struggles faced by millions every day. As a lifelong Rhode Islander who works in Newport, it was such a treat to see our city written well: our city by the sea really gets to shine through the eyes of Phoebe as she visits for the first and (she assumes) last time. Each character is richly and realistically drawn, in their beauty and idiosyncrasy; people who have come together, willing or not, to celebrate moving forward in one way or another. ”
— Amy • Charter Books
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.
Alison Espach is the author of the novels The Adults, a New York Times Editors' Choice and a Barnes & Noble Discover pick, and Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance, which was named a best book of 2022 by the Chicago Tribune and NPR. Her short stories and essays have appeared in McSweeney’s, Vogue, Outside, Joyland, and other places. She is a professor of creative writing at Providence College in Rhode Island.
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Reviews
“Witty dialogue is just a bonus in this engrossing read centering on complex women making life-changing decisions. Recommend to readers who enjoy Sally Rooney, Curtis Sittenfeld, or Elizabeth Berg.”
—Library Journal (starred review)
“The Wedding People is a wickedly funny and deeply satisfying novel about a woman with nothing to lose, armed with a green dress, some chocolate wine, and a coconut pillow, cut loose to cause delightful mayhem. It’s a story of lovers who turn into strangers, strangers who turn into friends, and the weird and wonderful connections that make us feel truly alive. I loved it.”
—Jenny Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Pineapple Street
“The Wedding People is my very favorite kind of novel—hilarious and witty with enormous heart and characters I fell in love with. I was delighted to be at this wedding, in the middle of the drama and gossip, watching the entanglements of friendships old and new. I haven’t stopped talking about this book since I finished it, and I won’t stop until I’ve made everyone I know read it . . . so read it! Now! You can thank me later.”
—Jennifer Close, bestselling author of Marrying the Ketchups
“Alison Espach! How does she do it? I mean, really--how? The Wedding People is so utterly, ringingly true it feels less like fiction than like a field guide to personhood. It's so funny and romantic that I sometimes laughed out loud and sometimes got actual goosebumps. I tore through it like I didn't have a disordered deficit of attention. It's a perfect novel. I loved it.”
—Catherine Newman, author of We All Want Impossible Things