Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is the latest pick for Jenna Bush Hager’s Today show book club.
Espach’s novel, set for publication next Tuesday by Henry Holt, follows Phoebe Stone, who checks into a Newport, Rhode Island, hotel where she is the only guest not attending a wedding. She encounters the bride, and the two confide in one another over the weekend.
Hager announced the book’s selection on the Today show, saying, “It’s the perfect book to wrap up your summer reading. It is heartwarming, hilarious; it’s a love story. It’s about love, loss, the people who come into our lives…and change [them] forever. You guys are going to love this book.”
As Hager spoke, Espach handed out copies of her novel to fans outside the Today show studio.
Espach told Today.com that the novel was inspired by her experience working at photo booths for weddings, where she was often mistaken for a wedding guest.
“I ended up attracting other unhappy, lonely people in the room who felt like outsiders at the wedding for whatever reason,” she said. “They saw me as this refuge. I had so many interesting conversations. I could feel that I was providing them some kind of release from [the roles] that they’ve had to perform for the last three or four days.…I chose the wedding as the main event because it’s one of the hardest places to be if you’re sad or feeling lonely. I’ve been that person. I’m sure everyone has been that person at a wedding, struggling to keep whatever’s going on inside.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
