Wreck

"Wreck is a delight. What an absolute joy to be reunited with Rocky and her family, the characters we all fell in love with in Sandwich. Newman's prose is laugh-out-loud funny. It's also profound. I couldn't stop reading, even though I didn't want it to end."-J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author of The Cliffs

"Wreck is the kind of book that pulls up a chair, pours the wine, and dives deep-equal parts hilarious, sharp, and achingly sincere. I didn't just read it-I felt known by it. A luminous, laugh-out-loud triumph."-Alison Espach, New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding People

The acclaimed bestselling author of Sandwich is back with a wonderful novel, full of laughter and heart, about marriage, family, and what happens when life doesn't go as planned.

If you loved Rocky and her family on vacation on Cape Cod, wait until you join them at home two years later. (And if this is your first meeting with this crew, get ready to laugh and cry-and relate.) Rocky, still anxious, nostalgic, and funny, is living in Western Massachusetts with her husband Nick and their daughter Willa, who's back home after college. Their son, Jamie, has taken a new job in New York, and Mort, Rocky's widowed father, has moved in.

It all couldn't be more ridiculously normal ... until Rocky finds herself obsessed with a local accident that only tangentially affects them-and with a medical condition that, she hopes, won't affect them at all. With her signature wit and wisdom, Catherine Newman explores the hidden rules of family, the heavy weight of uncertainty, and the gnarly fact that people-no matter how much you love them-are not always exactly who you want them to be.

Harper Collins/Harper | Oct 28, 2025 | 224 pages | ISBN:9780063453913 | Women's Fiction

In this utterly joyful standalone novel, Newman brings back the beloved star of her summer smash hit Sandwich. But instead of braving Cape Cod's overpriced clam shacks, she's cozied up for fall in her Massachusetts home, desperate to get to the bottom of her freaky new rash, a mysterious local train accident, and-just maybe-how to live a life of meaningful love in a world of brutal impermanence." - Oprah Daily, "25 Best Books of Fall 2025"

"Catherine Newman has my heart ... Newman is my dream writer, and she channels the perfect cocktail of humanity into her characters, especially Rocky. Rocky is funny and dry and emotional and sometimes crazy and always loving, so loving, of her family, even as she struggles and panics. It's a gift to get to be on the quest with her, and learn alongside her, about how to be alive, to be a person, to be good, to be worthy." - LitHub, "Most Anticipated Books"

"Wreck is an emotionally packed reminder that much of our lives is spent with spouse, kids and parents. And that if you can pick between worrying about what's coming and living authentically in the moment, you should let your heart settle where it grows the most—and that might just be your living room." - The Washington Post

"Rocky is obsessed with a local train crash and her own undiagnosed illness in this honest, hilarious and heartbreaking follow-up to Sandwich. You'll savor the prose from the very first line." - People

"Newman excels at showing how sorrow and joy coexist in everyday life. She masterfully balances a modern exploration of grief with truly laugh-out-loud lines ... A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"As protagonist Rocky reckons with a local tragedy, she learns that neither cyberchondria nor wit (and she's hilarious) will prevent life's progress." - Los Angeles Times, Most Anticipated

"A winning blend of pathos and humor ... [Rocky] is also a captivating protagonist whose wry observations and commentaries about matters of life and death keep us turning the pages ... Bittersweet gem of a book." - Boston Globe

"A touching new novel about love, loss and the messy beauty of family life ... With warmth, wit, and honesty, Wreck captures the laughter and tears of ordinary life in a way that feels both timeless and true." - Good Morning America