⭐ An Oprah's Book Club pick ⭐ An instant New York Times bestseller ⭐ A Book of the Year for The Times and Guardian ⭐ One of the 12 best books of 2025 for BBC Culture 'The Paper Palace meets Jonathan Franzen' Sunday Times Style 'Moving, funny and utterly engrossing' Sunday Times 'A book to lose yourself into' Guardian 'I did not stop reading it for three days straight' Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist Cece is in love. She has arrived early at her in-laws' beautiful lake house in Salish, Montana, to finish planning her wedding to Charlie, a cardiac anaesthesiologist with a brilliant future. When Charlie asks Garrett, his best friend from college, to officiate the ceremony, Cece can't imagine anyone less appropriate for the task. After all, Garrett, a depressed baggage handler at the local airport, doesn't believe in marriage. But as she spends time with him and his gruff mask slips, she grows increasingly uncertain about her future, leading to an impulsive decision that will alter the three friends' lives forever - the events of that summer reverberating across fifty years and spanning generations.