The Wedding People

A Novel

De: Alison Espach

Narrado por: Helen Laser

"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.

Enjoyable summer beach read

Enjoyed this book. The book addresses mental health and is relatable to everyone, especially those who go through life hiding their feelings.

Charming but….

Overall, this is a charming story with lots of lovely character development. However, it could have used some serious editing. A few scenes are silly and go on for pages longer than is effective. All told, a good book that does not suffer by hitting the “advance” button occasionally.

Five Stars for Phoebe

Love the characters and story. Devoured it in 1 day. One of my favorite books of 2024.

You'll LOL A LOT!!

The narration was the best I've ever heard and I've listened to A LOT OF BOOKS! She was perfect for this book!
I laughed out loud many times while listening. It was hilarious!
Prude alert!! Lots of foul language but bear with it, it's totally worth it.

Good at the beginning, boring in the middle, great at the end.

This book was a bit of a rollercoaster. It was interesting in the beginning and kept me engaged. Towards the middle of the book, I started to lose interest. This book could have been much shorter than it actually was as I found there were just too many fillers, too many characters to keep track off and so much extra dialogue and “fluff” that really didn’t add anything special to the story. There was no suspense factor, and by the middle of the book I knew what the ending was going to be. I must have a different sense of humor, people say this book is funny but I didn’t laugh much throughout the story. Lots of unnecessary uses of the “f” word also. And constant references to the pandemic definitely ages this book. That said, towards the end I started to get reinvested in the story. There were lots of meaningful moments that really stuck with me. One quote in particular stuck out. “Life is strange. Always thinking that this one thing is going to make you happy. Because then you get it. And then you’re maybe not as happy as you imagined you would be. Because every day is just every day. Like the happiness becomes so big you have no choice but to live inside it. Until you can no longer see or feel it. And so you start to fixate on something else.” The narrator was great, and definitely helped keep me invested in the story. This isn’t the typical genre I go for, but I’m glad I decided to give it a go.