From the publisher:
A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help us 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 dreamt of coming for years―she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe―which makes it that much more surprising when the women can’t stop confiding in each other.
In turns uproariously, absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is a look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined―and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.
https://amzn.to/48RZhry
Espach’s latest (after Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance,) brings Phoebe Stone to an exclusive small hotel in Newport, Rhode Island, where she quickly discovers everyone else is there for a six-day, million-dollar wedding extravaganza. Phoebe is there to kill herself. She has had several unsuccessful rounds of IVF, lost her husband to another woman, her cat has died, and she hates her job; her solution to all her problems is to give up on life, but in style at this dream vacation spot.
Phoebe has no qualms about telling the bride, Lila, why she is there, and Lila is as incensed as only a bride could be – a suicide during her wedding week is not on the agenda! Lila is a strong-willed young woman who recently lost her father; his dying wish was for her to get married, and he left her enough money to pay for the wedding of her dreams. Lila harangues Phoebe into joining the wedding festivities, and they spend quite a bit of time together. Sometimes, it is easier to confide in a relative stranger, and both women learn quite a bit about one another during the wedding week.
The witty dialogue is just a bonus in this engrossing read that centers on complex women making life-changing decisions. Recommend to readers who enjoy Sally Rooney, Curtis Sittenfeld, or Elizabeth Berg.
©Library Journal, 2024
7/2024 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
THE WEDDING PEOPLE by Alison Espach. Henry Holt and Co. (July 30, 2024). ISBN: 978-1250899576. 384p.
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