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A Novel
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.
What book or books are you reading this week? (01/30/2025)
I'm reading the Wedding People by Alison Espach. So far very enjoyable and quite a few laughable moments.
-Connie_H
What are some books you loved reading in 2024?
Vacationland by Meg Mitchell Moore This is How it Always is by Laurie Frankel City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin The Wedding People by Alison Espach The Cliffs by J Courtney Sullivan The Women by Kristen Hannah The Sun is a Compass by Caroline Van Hemert Educated by Tara Westover The Stars Are Fir...
-Debbie_M
"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)
"Espach offers a sparkling and slightly macabre novel of a 30-something woman finding a new lease on life...Readers are in for a treat." —Publishers Weekly
"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
This information about The Wedding People was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Rachel Turner
Alison Espach is the author of the novels The Wedding People, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance, an Indie Next Pick and Amazon Editors' Pick for 2022, and The Adults, a New York Times Editor's Choice and Barnes and Noble Discover pick. Her series In-Depth Market Research Interviews with Dead People is an Audible Original. She has written for McSweeney's, Vogue, Outside Magazine, Joyland and other places. She teaches creative writing at Providence College in Rhode Island.
Alison received her MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. She has been a writer-in-residence at the Ucross Foundation for the Arts, Millay Arts, The Wassaic Project, the Cuttyhunk Writers Residency and the San Miguel Literary Sala. Her work has been published in many countries and languages.
... Full Biography
Link to Alison Espach's Website
Name Pronunciation
Alison Espach: ESS-pack
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