The Wedding People

‘An excellent gift for almost anyone’ Guardian

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The Wedding People

By: Alison Espach

Narrated by: Helen Laser

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About this listen

The smash-hit international bestseller
A Read With Jenna book club pick
Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction
'Best read of the year' THE TIMES

'Books as fun as this one are few and far between' GUARDIAN

'Sharp, funny and a joy to read' OBSERVER

Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Rhode Island 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.

When the bride discovers her elaborate destination wedding could be ruined by a divorced and depressed stranger, she is furious. Lila 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.

Hilarious and moving, The Wedding People is an irresistible novel about love, friendship, dysfunctional families, and the unexpected paths that lead to happiness.

'As soon as I'd finished it, I wanted to read it all over again' RED

'Laugh-out-loud funny and surprisingly moving' INDEPENDENT

'So funny and romantic . . . A perfect novel' CATHERINE NEWMAN

'Glorious . . . made me wish I had written it' JOJO MOYES

'Utterly charming . . . I loved it' PANDORA SYKES

'One of the few weddings I've attended that I didn't want to end' SAMUEL BURR©2024 Alison Espach

Editors Select

Family Life

Friendship

Genre Fiction

Literature & Fiction

Funny

Witty

Feel-Good

Heartfelt

Editorial Review

I’ll toast to that!

Feeling salty about beachfront displays of affection? As am I, along with Phoebe Stone, the spiraling protagonist of Alison Espach’s latest novel, who, newly single and depressed, has hot summer plans to self-sabotage in style at an elegant Newport resort. However, upon her arrival, she unexpectedly befriends a cohort of, you guessed it, wedding people, who would rather count Phoebe as an extra head for the caterers than have her potentially ruin the ceremony by being left unattended while erratically heartbroken. It doesn’t take long for Phoebe and the bride to bond over their underlying anxieties, and narrator Helen Laser’s spot-on delivery of all the witty insights embedded in this novel certainly makes it easy to fall for the vibrant cast of characters. So, if you too are in need of a summer pick-me-up, take a page out of Phoebe’s book and vicariously masquerade as a posh, pearl-clad sophisticate while opening up to this cynical yet ultimately heartfelt listen. — Haley H., Audible Editor

Critic Reviews

The Wedding People is the perfect book to wrap up your summer reading. It is heartwarming, hilarious, it's a love story - it's about love, loss and the people who come into our lives and change it forever. You guys are going to love this book! (Jenna Bush Hager, The Today Show's #ReadwithJenna)

The the best read of the year so far

Fans of Sorrow and Bliss will, like me, adore The Wedding People, which is my book of the summer. As soon as I'd finished it, I wanted to read it all over again!

Espach's writing reminds me of Katherine Heiny's - keenly observant, ruthlessly honest, quietly elegant and utterly charming, with the ability to make you quietly weep when you least expect it . . . Nothing turns out the way anybody plans - but exactly as it should. I loved it (Pandora Sykes)

The Wedding People is a wickedly funny and deeply satisfying novel about a woman with nothing to lose, armed with a green dress, some chocolate wine, and a coconut pillow, cut loose to cause delightful mayhem. It's a story of lovers who turn into strangers, strangers who turn into friends, and the weird and wonderful connections that make us feel truly alive. I loved it (Jenny Jackson)

Alison Espach! How does she do it? I mean, really - how? The Wedding People is so utterly, ringingly true it feels less like fiction than like a field guide to personhood. It's so funny and romantic that I sometimes laughed out loud and sometimes got actual goosebumps. I tore through it like I didn't have a disordered deficit of attention. It's a perfect novel. I loved it (Catherine Newman)

I loved it I loved it I loved it. This is pure joy in book form. I want to live in it. I did live in it, in this hotel by the ocean with these people who felt real and made me laugh and ache and WANT things for them. I cannot understate how brilliant it is. Do yourself a favour. Cancel all your plans, and read it. It brought the love back into my reading life, and I suspect it'll have the power to bring love back into readers' normal lives, too, such is the power of a living, breathing, beautiful story like this (Claire Daverley)

The Wedding People is an absolute masterpiece - darkly, achingly funny, deeply moving and just bursting with energy and wisdom. I was unable to put this beautiful novel down and lost a great deal of sleep in the process. Perfection (Rosie Walsh)

Espach is an immensely talented writer, and her prose unfolds with a devastating lightness of touch (Emily St. John Mandel)

I gulped down The Wedding People - I LOVED it! It's such a blast, so much fun to read and so funny, but also full of brilliant insights and heart-wrenching in parts - my favourite kind of book. A joyful reading experience (Emily Itami)

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Something new and different but comforting all the same. Easy to listen to, Paced nicely. Unsure why the husband reemerge after in the end but hey…