The Wedding People

A funny, tender and quickly paced novel about loneliness, grief and starting over, set during a Newport wedding week. The ensemble is crowded and a few comic set pieces run broad, but Phoebe's voice and the bride Lila make it a generous read. Four out of five. Content note: it includes a suicide attempt early on, and frank sexual content. Read it if: you like funny, tender novels about starting over; you enjoy hotels, weddings and a talky, observant heroine; you want a quick, comforting read with real feeling underneath; you liked books that wrap sadness in humor. Skip it if: a suicide attempt, infertility or divorce on the page is too close right now; you want a tightly plotted story; frank sex scenes and strong language are not for you; you dislike broad, sitcom-style comic set pieces. Review: The Wedding People →

The Wedding People summary, day by day from Tuesday to Monday, with the ending explained: the wedding, Phoebe, Gary and the winter keeper job. Full spoilers. Summary: The Wedding People →

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.

Phoebe Stone, a divorced professor of Victorian literature, checks into the Cornwall Inn in Newport planning to end her life. The hotel is full of guests for a six day wedding, and the bride, Lila, draws Phoebe into it. Over a week Phoebe becomes the maid of honor and finds reasons to live.

Alison Espach, who also wrote The Adults and Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance. The novel was published by Henry Holt in July 2024 and won the fiction category of the 2024 Goodreads Choice Awards.

A film is in development. As of October 2026 it is reported that TriStar Pictures acquired the rights in February 2024, with Will Speck and Josh Gordon attached to direct and Nicole Holofcener to write the script. No cast or release date was found.

Contemporary literary fiction with a comic tone, often shelved as women's fiction. It is a dark comedy about loneliness, grief and starting over, set during a Newport wedding week.

It begins in a very dark place and has real grief in it, but it is built as a comedy and ends hopefully. That is the reviewer's assessment.