(Book for review courtesy of NetGalley)
Henry Holt & Company ~ July 30
What can possibly happen when a suicidal woman and a bride who has been planning her perfect wedding converge? Alison Espach's latest novel The Wedding People answers that very question. Phoebe Stone is an adjunct literature professor whose life isn't exactly fantastic. She can't get a tenure track teaching position, she can't finish the book she's been writing for 10 years, and she can't conceive. After the end of her marriage she makes the plan to rent a room at a luxury resort, swallow pills, and drift into oblivion. Lila, the bride of the wedding taking place at the resort, knows the suicide will ruin the vibe of her wedding weekend, so she implores Phoebe to postpone her plan until the wedding is over.
Alison Espach's humor and love for the more flawed members of humanity are on full display in The Wedding People. Lila may be seen as callous, but she has been bullied a bit in regard to marrying an older man. She needs the wedding to happen so people will see the love between her and her fiance is real. Phoebe needs human connection after the isolation of Covid and the end of her marriage. Lila and Phoebe bond, but the pairing is more like two burrs hooked together rather than say peanut butter and jelly. Both Lila and Phoebe are prickly and determined to get their way. Phoebe begins to bond with the members of the wedding group. As each interaction occurs Phoebe begins to heal. Espach's crisp phrasing and dark humor does not underplay the seriousness of suicidal ideation, but rather backlights the absurdity of life. Through Phoebe readers see that life is worth living, even through the worst of things that can happen.
