The Wedding People by Alison Espach

It’s not every book that starts with a heroine planning to commit suicide and manages to make the situation quite humorous - albeit dark humor! When Phoebe arrives at a fancy Newport, RI inn, wearing a green silk dress and empty handed except for her cell phone, she finds herself surrounded by wedding guests, coming for six days of over-the-top events. 

Phoebe had once hoped to visit the Cornwall Inn with her husband but he left her for their friend Mia during the pandemic, after their IVF efforts failed and their divorce has crushed her. Phoebe is so depressed she’s stopped enjoying teaching her beloved 19th century literature and walks out in the middle of a class. And in the inn’s elevator, Phoebe runs into a very self-centered bride:

“I said, I’m here to kill myself,” Phoebe repeats, more firmly this time. It feels good to say it out loud. If she can’t say it aloud, then she probably won’t be able to do it. And she has to do it. She has decided. She has come all this way. She feels relief as the doors begin to open, but the bride presses the button to close them.

“No,” the bride says.

“No?” Phoebe asks.

“No. You definitely cannot kill yourself. This is my wedding week.”

Lila tells Phoebe a suicide will ruin her wedding and keeps returning to Phoebe’s room, not so much to check on her, but to explain why she is spending a million dollars on an elaborate wedding and because no one else is listening. As she confides in Phoebe, Phoebe revels in a newfound ability to say whatever she wants, without trying to please her husband, her employer, or her students back in St. Louis. To her surprise, Phoebe finds herself drawn into the wedding activities and starts spending time with the families of the bride and groom, who are puzzled by her presence but seem to enjoy her quirkiness.

“I used to dream of having one of those big families in nineteenth century British novels,” Phoebe says.

“I thought you dreamed of being an orphan?”

“Well, if I couldn’t be an orphan, then I wanted a big messy family,” she says. “Like in Pride and Prejudice or something.”

“I’ll just nod and pretend I read it, too.”

“It’s one of those books that are about the big family, and what the big family is up to, and how the big family changes over time, and all the little ways the members of the big family irritate each other but also love each other.”

This book is about the ways Phoebe changes over six days through her interaction with the wedding people and how she changes them. I had been on the waiting list for this book at the library for months, then saw it on what is called the “Lucky Day” shelf at my branch on Friday and snatched it up. I didn’t know anything about it but the title but found it hard to put down. The writing reminded me a lot of Elinor Lipman, who is a sort of modern day Jane Austen. Author Espach is edgier and more profane but endlessly creative as well as very funny. I thought I knew where she was going but Phoebe kept surprising me. It was a fun read which I recommend (except to anyone who has experienced suicide in their family) and for once I didn't even notice the present tense.

Title: The Wedding People
Author: Alison Espach
Publication: Henry Holt & Co., hardcover, 2024
Genre: Fiction
Source: Library