Ian Gualtiere ’27

by Ian Gualtiere ’27 on November 7, 2024

The novel The Wedding People exemplifies the hard-hitting questions and nature of the relationships we gravitate towards. It focuses, for better or worse, on the people populating a hotel wedding in Newport, RI. Coming from Providence College’s very own associate professor of English Alison Espach, the events of the novel seem closer than ever in the nation’s smallest state.

Originally published in July 2024, The Wedding People was celebrated as the “novel of the summer,” picked to be on Today Show host Jenna Bush Hager’s book club list, and propelled Espach onto the New York Times Best Seller list. In an email correspondence, Espach stated that her various press tours throughout the summer were moments where she “loved all of them, but my appearances on the Today Show were unique experiences I’ll never forget. Jenna [Bush Hager] and Hoda [Kotb] were so welcoming, and the Rockettes were there being, well, the Rockettes—I refuse to do any event without them now.” The plot revolves around Phoebe Stone and her upcoming plan to have one last debaucherous bang before committing one of the most controversial acts of her life. It is here where Espach’s profound ability to weave complex yet comedic threads of characters, thoughts, and actions shines. The story investigates what it truly means to be in a relationship, how to move on from devastating loss, and most importantly, how to conduct oneself at a wedding. Espach discusses how the novel has affected readers reaching out to her, saying that she “heard from many people who have said that the book has helped them move on in some way. Sometimes from a relationship, sometimes from a version of themselves that no longer suits them, and sometimes just from a dark place. I know certain books have done the same for me in the past, yet it’s still surreal to think that my own writing can affect people in this way.” Living the double life of an author and a professor, Espach has offered various creative courses at PC that have shaped her writing and her approach to teaching in front of a class. The experiences of Espach are reflected in Phoebe’s character since both are collegiate-level professors: “Phoebe faced a similar crisis that I felt when I first started teaching. Being a professor makes you think a lot about what silence in the classroom means—on a good day, it looks like deep thought. On a bad day, it looks like boredom. I’ve learned it is very easy to project anything you want into that silence, and that was something that Phoebe learned how to navigate just as I did.” It is with these lessons that Espach can connect with the vast sea of faces that crowd her classrooms. The relationship between both professor and student makes Espach feel “so lucky that I get to come to the classroom and be a part of the writing community here and read what my students create. It truly does help me as a writer.”

What makes the opening scene of The Wedding People so distinct is Espach’s talent in conveying the utter sense of loss and hopelessness within Phoebe, who had gone through a divorce, as she enters a nineteenth-century Newport hotel only wearing an emerald silk dress. The first page only has one sentence of dialogue from the protagonist that offers a glimpse into Phoebe’s mind: “I don’t have any luggage.” Espach drew inspiration for her characters from her time working weddings in graduate school: “Being a stranger at another person’s wedding meant that I was often standing by the photobooth listening to a wedding guest’s list of grievances, which is probably not great fun if you are another wedding guest, but is great fun if you are a writer who is bored at work.” The appeal of weddings makes the novel so much more enjoyable, knowing that a large crowd of friends, family, and strangers are in attendance for the celebration. The character of Phoebe seems to be the only person who was not invited while trying to see the charm of marriage and question the lengths people are willing to commit to a relationship.

One of the more noticeable aspects of this novel is the setting in which the wedding takes place: Newport, RI, a town nearly 40 miles from PC—the college that inspired Espach to create a story centered there. When asked why the story of Phoebe takes place in our state, Espach writes, “Newport is a beautiful and historic place that invests a lot of time, money and energy into being beautiful and historic—an effort that reminds me of the time, money and energy that people spend trying to make a wedding absolutely perfect. I had fun playing with the ways that both the wedding and Newport aren’t exactly what they try to be—when the cracks in the façade begin to show.” The charm of the town creates a perfect opportunity to explore the inner workings of not only weddings, but also the people around us who we thought we knew. Their prejudices, fears, and aspirations pit many wedding guests against each other, trying to critically pick apart the special aspects of a special day.

Espach’s The Wedding People is a celebration of the world we live in, where relationships continue to evolve—losing close ties with some and entering into the worlds of others. The novel explores the universal human experience of “trying to move on and forge new lives after some kind of heartache.” The beautifully painful time of transition lies at the heart of this exceptional novel.