The Wedding People

Espach’s latest (after Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance) brings Phoebe Stone to an exclusive small hotel in Newport, RI, where she quickly discovers that everyone else is there for a six-day, million-dollar wedding extravaganza. Phoebe is there to kill herself. After several unsuccessful rounds of IVF, losing her husband to another woman, and the death of her cat, she figures the solution is to give up on life, but in style at this dream vacation spot. Phoebe has no qualms about telling the wedding’s bride, Lila, why she is there, and Lila is as incensed—a suicide during her wedding week is not on the agenda. Lila recently lost her father, whose dying wish was for her to get married, and he left her the money to pay for the lavish ceremony. Lila harangues Phoebe into joining the wedding festivities, and they spend quite a bit of time together. Sometimes, it is easier to confide in a relative stranger than a loved one, and both women learn quite a bit about each other during the wedding week.