The Wedding People

It''s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island when Phoebe Stone arrives at the Cornwall Inn wearing her best dress and least comfortable heels. The lobby, in fact every room at the hotel, is occupied by wedding people. Every room except Phoebe''s. On her way up in the elevator, she gets trapped with the bride, who realizes Phoebe isn''t here for the ''wedding week'' and demands to know her intentions. Without shame, Phoebe shares that she has come to the Cornwall because it is her happy place, and it''s here that she plans to end her life. The bride is livid, and simply will not have her perfectly planned wedding ruined by this sad stranger. That night - as the wedding people begin their atrocious speeches - Phoebe wavers and finds that she cannot turn away from their drama and dysfunction. She is still broken, but for the next five days she is suddenly pulled into a family she doesn''t belong to, and the matrimonial chaos that might just lead to a happy ever after.

Auteur

Alison Espach is the author of two previous novels, though The Wedding People is the first to be published in the UK. Her short stories and essays have appeared in a wide range of publications, including McSweeney's and Vogue. She is a professor of creative writing at Providence College in Rhode Island.

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The #2 New York Times bestseller
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'THE BEST READ OF THE YEAR SO FAR' THE TIMES

It's a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people - but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall Inn who isn't here for the big event.

Phoebe has dreamed of coming here for years. She hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband but now she is divorced and depressed, and not sure how to go on. She's not been sure how to do anything, lately, except climb into bed and drink gin and tonics and listen to the sound of the refrigerator making ice.

When the bride discovers her elaborate destination wedding could be ruined by this sad stranger, she is furious. She has spent months accounting for every detail and every possible disaster - except for, well, Phoebe . . . Soon, both women find their best-laid plans derailed and an unlikely confidante in one another.

Uproariously funny and devastatingly tender, The Wedding People is an irresistible novel about love, friendship, dysfunctional families, and the unexpected paths that lead to happiness.