'The kind of book that pulls up a chair, pours the wine, and dives deep... like spending hours with the friend who sees your mess and loves you more for it.' Alison Espach, New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding People 'Gorgeously human, tender-hearted, and delightfully funny' Nussaibah Younis, bestselling author of Fundamentally 'A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life.' Kirkus Reviews (starred review) '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' Rachel Joyce, bestselling author of The Homemade God _______ Rocky, Nick, Willa and Jamie. A normal loving, anxious, messy, relatable, family. Rocky has her own her way of processing disasters: 1. This could happen to us. 2. This couldn't happen to us. And then there's a secret third column: 'This could happen to us unless I am very careful/ superstitious/ grateful...' So when a former classmate of Jamie's dies in a seemingly random accident, Rocky becomes obsessed. She's also developed a niggling medical condition that won't go away. On the surface, she is still living her best life as the irreverent, funny, unpredictable beating heart of her family. Her father is his unique, adorable self; Willa is prone to bouts of existential angst whilst berating the fact that her mother has zero filter; Nick is steady, logical, sometimes infuriating. But if accidents can happen - and they do - is it safe to love anyone? Laugh out loud funny and deeply emotional, WRECK follows Rocky and her family through one rollercoaster year as they share the unpredictable, beautiful messiness of life. _______ PRAISE FOR SANDWICH & WE ALL WANT IMPOSSIBLE THINGS: 'Breezy New York Nora-Ephron-style wit meets hospice memoir to create something profoundly beautiful...comforting, so funny, moving but never mawkish and packed with all kinds of love. It's one of my favourite books ever' bestselling author, MARIAN KEYES 'One of the funniest books I've ever read' FEARNE COTTON, STYLIST 'I adored this book. Jubilant, devastating, tender, heartbreaking, I found myself both in tears and 'snorty-laughing'. A masterclass on friendship, family love, memory, and the messiness of life and love and dying. Pure genius' RACHEL JOYCE, author of the bestseller The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry 'Tragically funny, with moments of clarity and wisdom, Newman writes loss and laughter in equally brilliant amounts' BONNIE GARMUS, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry 'Newman is truly a master of taking complex and chaotic human emotion and making sense of it ... wise and exquisitely written' GUARDIAN '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
"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
"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
"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
"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