One anxious bride, two divorced parents, three days in June and an unforgettable wedding – the funny, touching bestseller from Anne Tyler

‘Just relishable. Thank God for the balm of good writing’ NIGELLA LAWSON
‘A wise, wonderful book’ OBSERVER
‘Razor sharp on family, love and marriage’ DAVID NICHOLLS
‘I devoured it in one long lazy afternoon – I laughed and cried’ VICTORIA HISLOP

The happily ever after is only part of the story… A funny, touching, hopeful gem about love, marriage and second chances

It’s the day before her daughter’s wedding and things are not going well for Gail Baines.

First thing, she loses her job (or quits, depending who you ask). Then her ex-husband Max turns up at her door looking for somewhere to stay. He doesn’t even have a suit. Instead, he’s brought memories – and a cat looking for a new home.

Just as Gail is wondering what’s next, their daughter Debbie discovers her groom has been keeping a secret which could throw the whole wedding into question…

‘She is and always will be my favourite author’ LIANE MORIARTY

‘If Anne Tyler isn’t the best writer in the world, who is?’ BBC R4 WOMAN’S HOUR

‘She knows all the secrets of the human heart’ MONICA ALI

‘My favourite writer’ NICK HORNBY

‘Anne Tyler really is the best’ GRAHAM NORTON

‘Our greatest chronicler of family life’ DAILY MAIL

‘Nobody does it better’ VOGUE

Author Biography

Anne Tyler was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1941 and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her bestselling novels include Breathing Lessons, The Accidental Tourist, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, Ladder of Years, Back When We Were Grown-ups, Digging to America, A Spool of Blue Thread, Clock Dance, Redhead by the Side of the Road and French Braid.

In 1989 she won the Pulitzer Prize; in 1994 she was nominated by Roddy Doyle and Nick Hornby as ‘the greatest novelist writing in English’; and in 2012 she received the Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence. In 2015 A Spool of Blue Thread was shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Booker Prize; and in 2020 Redhead by the Side of the Road was longlisted for the Booker Prize.

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