The Wedding People
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4.1 • 995 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
"As narrator, the terrific Laser, an actress and puppeteer, only enhances the swoon-worthy quirks and romance." —Vulture
A Today show #ReadwithJenna Book Club Pick, A Goodreads Choice Awards 2024 Winner, and long-listed in many Best of the Year 2024 picks!
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.
A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt & Company.
Customer Reviews
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Imagine walking into a wedding you weren’t invited to… and somehow, it feels more like your destiny than a mistake.
Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is a deliciously offbeat, surprisingly profound dive into grief, connection, and the unspoken weirdness of being human. It begins with a premise that feels like a rom-com setup—our narrator, freshly widowed and emotionally wrecked, accidentally walks into the wrong wedding at a ritzy seaside hotel. But instead of being awkwardly ushered out, she’s embraced by the guests… and things unravel in the most compelling, bizarre, and strangely comforting ways.
Espach writes with dry wit, sharp observation, and the kind of humor that sneaks up on you, only to gut-punch you with emotion a page later. The novel dances between absurdity and emotional resonance with ease. Grief is a guest at this wedding, but so are hope, second chances, and that weird moment when you realize strangers might just understand you better than your closest friends.
The pacing meanders a bit in the middle—like a tipsy wedding guest doing the cha-cha too long—but stick with it. The payoff is oddly beautiful and undeniably unique.
Perfect for: Fans of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, lovers of literary fiction with emotional quirks, and anyone who’s ever felt like they showed up to life’s big events a little overdressed and a little emotionally unprepared.
Humor & Heart
The two main characters together in this story are fantastic! Such deep and personal topics written with beauty and humor. I enjoyed this one very much and highly recommend.
Best narrator
I listen to a lot of books while o walk to pass the time. This was a book I couldn’t stop listening to. I finished it in one weekend while cleaning, doing dishes and cooking - anything that would let me keep listening. The narrator is literally the best I have ever heard and really let me immerse myself in the story - which is so so good. Loved every minute.