Wreck - Large Print by Catherine Newman (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"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 underlined so many passages in this treasure of a novel. It brought about that conundrum that the best books always do: 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. It's like spending hours with the friend who sees your mess and loves you more for it. I didn't just read it--I felt known by it. A luminous, laugh-out-loud triumph by Newman."--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.

Review Quotes

"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"

"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

"I didn't know I needed a sequel to Sandwich until the news of this release hit my inbox, and boy am I overjoyed. I read this book at the tail end of the summer, and while it's hard to describe what actually happens, I did find Newman's chapters and vignettes heartwarming, gripping, and enjoyable to read. It follows Rocky and her hilariously sweet family as they come to terms with a tragic accident in their neighborhood. You'll understand the magic once you read it. Trust me." -- The Skimm

"Newman brings her signature wit and fast-paced banter to this heartfelt sequel." -- Booklist

"Endorsing a new Catherine Newman novel feels a bit like endorsing puppies or chocolate cake. It's a new Catherine Newman novel. Of course you want to read it. 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 underlined so many passages in this treasure of a novel. It brought about that conundrum that the best books always do: 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. It's like spending hours with the friend who sees your mess and loves you more for it. I didn't just read it--I felt known by it. A luminous, laugh-out-loud triumph by Newman." -- Alison Espach, New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding People

"It's been said that life is relationships, the rest is just details. Catherine Newman is a master of both, making what on the surface may seem like quiet, humorous work sing with shocking profundity. I hope she writes a hundred more books about Rocky and her family. I would read them all." -- Steven Rowley, New York Times bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus

"Catherine Newman's new novel is a rare thing: both laugh-out-loud funny and deeply attuned to the quiet devastations of illness, grief, and family life. In Rocky, a woman mourning her mother's death while grappling with her own changing health, Newman gives us a narrator whose fierce intelligence and generous heart make even the most ordinary moments shimmer with grace. I read it in a state of recognition and delight--moved by its warmth, its candor, and its cleareyed celebration of life's wild transience, and the vulnerability of our bodies." -- Meghan O'Rourke, New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Kingdom

"How comforting, how satisfying, and how delicious to be once again in the world of Rocky and her family where everyday life bangs against potential disaster and somehow muddles its way through. Infectiously funny and surprisingly moving, Wreck reminds us that we are each, in our way, trying to make sense of the big things with some very small tools--and that love in the end is the thing that saves us." -- Rachel Joyce, internationally bestselling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

"I loved it! A gorgeously human, tender-hearted, and delightfully funny exploration of the anxieties that beset all of us, and the loving relationships and irrepressible joy that gets us through." -- Nussaibah Younis, internationally bestselling author of Fundamentally

"Sandwich is joy in book form. I laughed continuously, except for the parts that made me cry. Catherine Newman does a miraculous job reminding us of all the wonder there is to be found in life." -- Ann Patchett, New York Times bestselling author of Tom Lake, on Sandwich

"If you like my novels, you will love love love this. . . . I stand in awe, it's just perfect." -- Elin Hilderbrand, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Swan Song, on Sandwich

"I loved this little beautiful book. You could put it in your beach bag and read it in one sitting. I did . . . . The ultimate beach read." -- Jenna Bush Hager on Sandwich

"A beach novel to pass on to your best friends, no matter what the season." -- O, the Oprah Magazine, "Best Books of 2024," on Sandwich