Zibby chats with author Alison Espach about her absurdly funny and devastatingly tender new novel, THE WEDDING PEOPLE—a Zibby’s Book Club, Read With Jenna, and B&N Book Club pick! Alison delves into the book’s unique premise: Phoebe, a divorced English professor, goes to a luxury hotel to end her life—but then she meets the bride getting married there that weekend, and they form an unlikely friendship. Alison delves into the characters, the inspiration behind the story, and her use of humor to explore dark themes. She also reveals how her own experiences with grief and loss have influenced her writing.

Transcript:

Zibby: Welcome, Alison. Thank you so much for coming on Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books to discuss The Wedding People. So exciting.

Alison: Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. It's really funny to actually be on this podcast because I've been listening to it sort of non stop for the past few days while making this brick path in my backyard. Like, I often listen to podcasts or audiobooks, so I was like, you know what, I'll listen to Zippy's podcast.

And you have made a very tedious process actually pretty enjoyable. Like, listening to the authors, I mean, it's truly so tedious. This, this, I don't, for any, like, ambitious DIYers out there, you know, this is not for, This is like a job left for the pros, I'd say. 

Zibby: I wasn't going to try it. 

Alison: Yeah, no, definitely not.

No, definitely not. I bought a house in 2020 and so I'm still sorting through like the, like which tasks are for me and like which tasks are for the pros. And I definitely, definitely learned my lesson on this one. 

Zibby: My tasks for me list is very, very short. 

Alison: Yeah, I think I'm headed in that direction. I'm kind of just like crossing them off.

Like, okay, no, no. Oh. 

Zibby: Select the furniture, select the wallpaper, add to cart, that's my job. Add to cart, yeah. 

Alison: That's a good one, that's a good one. 

Zibby: Even my teenage son, I'm like, okay great, a box arrived, could you just assemble this for me? Thank you. Where, where do you live? Where's your house? I mean not exactly.

Alison: Yeah, well, if you look on Google Maps, it's, uh, in Providence, Rhode Island. 

Zibby: Oh, nice. 

Alison: Yeah. 

Zibby: But I promise I'm not gonna, you're gonna like turn around and be in that window behind you. 

Alison: Why aren't you done with the Brick Path yet? 

Zibby: I'm here to recite the podcast in person. Anyway, okay, The Wedding People, this is literally one of my favorite books lately.

It is so good. I have savored, like, Every sentence, you know, my superpower is being able to skim. Like, I can skim books and read, read in my way, like, so many books. And this one, I have been carrying around with me for a while because every sentence I have to, like, slow down because they're so smart and funny.

Not that they're not in other books, but It's just particularly amazing. Just, I'm loving it. Loving, loving. 

Alison: Thank you for saying that. That's like a really wonderful compliment. 

Zibby: I'm sure you will hear this a million times over. And then I was describing it to someone and I was like, yeah, this is my book club pick and blah blah blah.

And they're like, what's it about? And I'm like, oh, it's about a suicidal woman who, like, goes to a hotel to kill herself and they're like, oh, yeah, that's the funny book. It's like, no, no, no, it's funny. It's like, anyway, how do you describe it? I'll let you give it. 

Alison: Yeah, I mean, that is, you've hit the nail on the head in terms of the challenge of promoting this book.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. We would, you know, while also trying to make sense, you know, to people. Yeah. Would you like me to describe it a little bit? 

Zibby: Yeah. Why don't you? 

Alison: Okay. I can just show you how I describe it, and you can tell me if it sounds, sounds any good. 

Zibby: We'll workshop it. 

Alison: We'll workshop it. This is actually very early in the process for me, so honestly, workshopping it sounds great.

Uh, so why don't I start by just describing the opening chapter a little bit, because I think it really lays out, like, the, the kind of basic premise of the book and, and how the rest will unfold. So the Wedding People begins with this woman named Phoebe, who wakes up one morning in St. Louis and decides she basically just doesn't want to go to work again.

And instead she flies to Newport, Rhode Island to stay at this 19th century luxury hotel. And what's important in about this particular hotel is that she and her husband had almost vacationed there once, uh, just before their relationship ended. Um, but they decided not to go to this hotel because it was just like too ridiculous, you know, too expensive, just not really their style.

Like they were more like campers in the Ozarks and this is like Newport kind of 19th century. historic luxury. But Phoebe is alone now. She's divorced. And she's also an English professor who is in search of a, like, beautiful and romantic, luxurious evening that she hopes will kind of like overshadow just like the loneliness.

and the monotony of her life at the current, at its current moment. Yeah. So basically look, you know, headed on this, on, on this trip, uh, this hotel stay to just sort of be transformed. And when she gets there, you know, it's pretty much as advertised. Uh, like this beautiful hotel, like overlooking the ocean, and she's like welcomed in by like candles on the walkway, you know, and like these ridiculous velvet drapes, but inside the lobby she starts to realize that everyone at the hotel is actually there for a wedding.

And she, you know, starts picking up on their conversations and starts, Noticing that everyone seems to be named Jimmy for some reason, you know, and just like listening to all these things, it's just kind of ruining the romance for her. She encounters the bride in the lobby and the bride becomes particularly fixated on Phoebe's presence because she's the only person not there for the wedding.

And, and she actually mistakes Phoebe for part of her family. Um, you know, just. In the opening, and um, Phoebe's really baffled by this, because she's like, you don't know who's in your own family? Like, uh, I'm obviously not. And so the bride just continues to, to ask her why she's here. And over the course of a shared elevator ride, Phoebe becomes so appalled by the bride's self absorption, and just like, you know, crossing of these boundaries, that she starts to feel like she wants to ruin something for her.

And so she just She just tells her why she's here and she says, I'm here to kill myself. And the bride, whose name is Lila, is like, no, like this is, this is my wedding week. I'm sorry. Like you cannot do that. And so that's really, to me, you know, that was the first scene, you know, the first major scene that I wrote in this book.

And that just sort of lays out the kind of like radical honesty that develops between them over the course of, of this. Stay at the, at the, at the hotel over the course of this wedding week and Phoebe and, and, and Lila become friends and, and, you know, have a weird friendship, but a meaningful friendship and Phoebe sort of gets increasingly entangled in this.

Zibby: Okay. It could be a little tighter. 

Alison: Okay. 

Zibby: That was a long elevator ride. 

Alison: That was a long elevator ride. 

That was a good feedback. 

Zibby: That is a good description of the beginning. I'll give you that and all that. No, I mean, I think it's, it's like how one woman comes back from a place where everything feels wrong.

And ends up finding a whole new life for herself out there. And it's told with so much humor and heart. And the wedding just is such a foil because weddings are the most joyous, obviously. Like the most, or theoretically, joyous. part of life, right? The pinnacle. And she is like at the nadir, which I don't think I've ever said out loud, but I memorized for the SAT.

Anyway, at the bottom of it all. And I think it's the juxtaposition and how the most unlikeliest of friendships can end up lifting you up from the darkest of places. 

Alison: You're right. That is much better. Yeah. Can I bring you around with me on tour? 

Zibby: You can take that. I'll record it. 

Alison: Okay. Great. 

Zibby: Where did this idea come from?

Alison: Yeah. You know, I, I, I told you, I just, I wrote that opening chapter first, pretty much. I mean, it feels like one sitting, I'm sure it wasn't one sitting, but it came out pretty pretty fast. And it was actually many years ago. And I was in the middle of writing my second novel, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance, which to me was like an objectively heavy book.

You know, it's about a girl who loses her older sister. And so I just needed a break from that heaviness. And I was like, I'm gonna write a book that's just like a total fantasy, you know, just like a fun and happy book. And I guess at the time this was my fantasy, just like taking off, abandoning all responsibilities and staying at just this amazing hotel, um, where all your needs are met.

And so I just started writing that and then, you know, all I had to do was figure out like why she was there. And so, you know, You know, it took a, it took a beat, you know, I was like going through all the like, is she like a spy or is she, you know, is she, what's she there for? You know, and I just kept thinking about what you said, like sort of what is the opposite of a wedding?

You know, it's like a woman who's really, who feels like she's at the end of her life and not the beginning. And I just kept imagining this, what the weight of that would feel like in, in this particular kind of space where there's so much pressure to be. happy and forward looking and celebratory. So, yeah, I think it just came to me almost maybe as, you know, that might have been like the writing professor in me who, who sort of, I'm always telling my students like, okay, here's the, here's the situation, or here's the, here's the character, here's the setting, like, What's not in harmony with that, you know, and look at that, like, whatever that is, go there.

But to me, it was so much darker than I had wanted it to be. You know, I was kind of like, no, this book was a fantasy. Like why? But of course, that's exactly what it had to be. 

Zibby: There's so many times when Phoebe is just like, even for someone as self absorbed as a bride, like, I had, you know, she like has to laugh when like, Lilo will come in and she's like, Oh, I knew you weren't going to do it, you know, let me tell you about my dress or whatever.

It's just. Wow. You know, like that's really like next level self absorption. And she just like sort of studies it like she's holding up a, like a foreign object or something, you know, like she just gets such a kick out of Lila's antics. And I feel like you really, throughout the course of the book, end up feeling like not so much compassion for Lila too.

And this, you know, and I, she starts as a caricature almost of a bride, but then you really like dig in deeper and you're like, Oh, well. You know, look at what's going on and, you know, look at her. It seemed to be sister in law, who's like the worst. You know, I don't know, just like all these different relationships and pressures on, on her too, right?

They become real people. I mean, Phoebe was always like a real person, but Lila at the beginning was just like the typical bride. And you're just like, oh, I hate you. You're beautiful and perfect. And everything's going so well at this like ocean house esque resort. And, you know, oh my gosh. Anyway, was that the intention to kind of, or?

Alison: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think, you know, I think I wrote Lila that way or, you know, Phoebe studies Lila and the way that you're saying because I think part of her is impressed by Lila, you know, like impressed by those qualities that seem to Phoebe, um, so alien, right? Like this entitlement or just like walking into a room and not trying to figure out like, what's the vibe?

Or what is everyone talking about? So I can, you join in, but really walk in and dictate the vibe or walk in and start the conversation because with whatever she feels like saying, right, rather than adjusting herself to, to fit the room, which I think is what Phoebe has always done, right, is sort of always watched herself, always adapted really quickly and easily.

And, you know, as a professor, always watching her and being very careful in her delivery and to just see someone. not do that, you know, as blatantly as, as Lila does. I, I think like shocks her into a kind of just distance and, but also like a studious distance. Like who is this person and how can a person really be like that?

You know, it kind of brings her out of herself a little bit. 

Zibby: Speaking of English professor, dumb or whatever, English professor land. It was so funny when they were talking about the mom puts all the statuettes like outside of her door, the ones with birds. Cause she's like, it looks like I have like dead birds that are figurines like in my hotel room.

And then Pippa has to say like, no, no, that's actually how ravens sleep. And, and then Lila's like, of course, like you're the one, or maybe it was That's Lila's husband, not John. What's the? Gary. Gary. And maybe it was Gary. So like you are, you, of course you would know that there were ravens. She's like, I'm an English professor.

Of course I know about ravens. Like it's an occupational hazard. 

Alison: You gotta know all the birds, you know, they just keep showing up. 

Zibby: I mean, I feel like if I had been writing this, I would have been like chuckling the whole time, like at some of these lines. Like, did you just like laugh out, like, kind of like chuckle to yourself out loud as you were writing some of these scenes?

Alison: You know, I don't, I don't, don't think so. I mean, I wouldn't put it past me to do that, but I, uh, I don't recall. I mean, I remember sort of getting, losing time, like getting lost in a scene and the way that, like, it can feel like you're, you're losing time when reading a book or watching a movie. You're just, Not aware of yourself for a short period of time, you know, and so I think that to me always signals when I'm like really in it, you know, just letting the conversation flow as, as I, as I would want it to.

Yeah. 

Zibby: There's one scene on the boat when the, Gary's, Gary, who she's marrying. His daughter, who they call Juice, has, is mourning the loss of this sort of plastic human, like, almost like one of those Japanese characters that we, what are they, Pikachu or whatever they used to, what do you call them? Oh my god, I can't even, what are they called?

Tamagotchis. Tamagotchis. Tamagotchis, yes. Yeah. Like a thing like that, which like has a life that I get, that Gary's late mother, late wife, had given to him. And it finally had expired while they're on there and Phoebe takes Drew seriously and it's like, let's have a proper funeral and throw it overboard.

And everyone else is like, that's crazy and don't litter and dah, dah, dah. And she decides to throw it overboard and before long Phoebe, it's the only scene where she's really like breaking down. Like, even when she's suicidal, she's so, like, matter of fact about it. Like, this is what I'm going to do. She's not, like, weeping.

Right? Right. But this scene, she, like, lets it all come out, and she mourns all of this stuff that she's been keeping inside for so long. And I feel like it's a turning point moment, sort of, in the book, where it all just comes out, and I feel like the reader is like, in it, right? Like we are like, Oh my gosh, this is what I'm going to cry for.

This is like, these are the things in my life that didn't quite work out. And it all, it's not about the Tamagotchi or whatever the thing is. It's not about the cat or whatever. It's about so much more. So anyway, long way to say, tell me about that scene. And, uh, And those emotions and all of it. 

Alison: Yeah, you know, I think this scene is a huge turning point for Phoebe.

Because I think, you know, in, in approaching the hotel and her plan to sort of kill herself, you know, you're right, it's a very matter of fact. It's very much a plan. Like, it sounds like the most ideal way to go about it for her, you know? And, and there's some element of escape in that. And some element of fantasy in that.

And like, not, you know, not having to, you know, Recognize, uh, or really sit with or deal with, um, the major sadnesses of her life to just sort of just turn away from them and imagine something else, you know? And when that, when that doesn't happen, right? You know, she finds herself on this boat with all these wedding people and juices sadness over the loss of this little virtual dog, you know, that no one really takes seriously.

It's like, because I think we do that in life, right? We're like, well, that's, uh, Legit grief. That's not right. We rank it, um, and treat it accordingly. And, you know, for everyone on the boat, it's like, that's not, that's, that's not real or that's not enough. But Phoebe's becomes invested in it, right? And it becomes, it unlocks something in her.

And I think for the first time, you know, in, in the book, at least, I don't know about her life exactly, but the first time in the book, like she lets in all the sad, like, These are the things I wanted, desperately, and I didn't get them, and if I'm going to move on, which she is, if I'm going to go on, like, I just, I have to cry for them, you know, and so, linking, like, juices, sadness and the death of this virtual dog to this just death of like Phoebe, you know, and everything she had wanted for herself.

Um, and it, and I think a funeral like is that, you know, it's, we have these rituals, we have these things in place to help us do that because it's so difficult. And so that's sort of why I, I imagined her kind of concocting the funeral scene as a way to kind of bind the two of them together in this way.

moment. Um, but also I just thought it would be ridiculous, you know, like here's this wedding party like on a beautiful day and here's this stranger like getting them all to engage in this funeral, you know, it's just so, and the brides over in the corner just baffled and in disbelief, you know. 

Zibby: We have upstairs a pot from an old plant, which is the makeshift graveyard for a friendship bracelet that broke, complete with a little pretend, like, headstone that one of my kids made out of paper with the dates of the friendship bracelet and how long they had it.

Alison: But anyway, so it's, but exactly, yeah, those little things are important, even if they can be funny and silly too, but they can also actually be genuinely sad as well. 

Zibby: Yes. So where is the, where is the darkness? In your, in your writing, where is that coming from? 

Alison: Where is that coming from? I don't know. I mean, this is a good question, though.

You know, I mean, I think, I think most obviously, like, thinking about where does the darkness come from in my writing, you know, for, for much of my life as a writer, and that includes like my late teenage years when I really started, I was always writing about death, I was always writing about loss, I was always writing about grief.

And I, you know, I wouldn't take a very uh, advanced therapist to, to say that it's likely due to the fact that my brother died when I was 14 and he was 16 very suddenly. So I, you know, I grew up with like a before life, a very happy, wonderful family, you know, and being the kind of kid who who felt very invincible and felt very outside of a lot of grief that I just didn't understand yet.

And so when this happened, it really just shifted everything for me. And there became, there came to be this like really dark sadness at the center of our lives for quite a long time. And, you know, my parents were, really as amazing as you can be in that scenario. And they always tried to get me to talk about it, you know, and, and opened up the door, but that's just how teenagers are.

Like, they will not walk through that door. Like, you can't make them. And I just, I just grew up with the sense that there's a sadness at the center that we can't, that I can't talk about. I don't know how to talk about. I don't even know why we would talk about it. You know, I don't know if that's good or if that's bad.

Just so many questions around it that I really just started writing through that. Um, it was the safest place for me to go. And I found that I couldn't sustain just sadness. You know, like, nothing is ever just sad. Nothing is ever just grief, right? Like, Um, so many of the most hilarious moments of my life came out of that time period, you know, just because grief can be extreme, right?

And it, it can produce like really absurd moments and really awkward, funny conversations. And so that just seems so, so interesting. Interesting to me and so special about life that I think that that's just where I've always wanted to be in my writing is that in that tension between those two places like there's the utterly hilarious and just the utterly horrifying and and how do we how do we exist between those two poles.

Zibby: I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm so sorry. Can I even ask how, how did he pass away? 

Alison: Oh, uh, it was a car accident. Yeah, so, so very sudden. And you know, and I just, I wrote, people say a lot of times with writers, like you're always writing the same book, right? I really was always writing. Like I would set something in Nebraska.

And it would be like, a bunch of copper thieves, you know, and I was like, trying to get as far away from my life as possible, but of course, like, someone there was dealing with the sudden loss of a loved one, you know, and so I just, I couldn't escape it. I just kept coming back to it. And when I wrote my second novel, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance, which is very much drawn from that.

specific incident. That was it for me. That kind of cleared the way to just have a little bit more fun and explore different other kinds of grief, which is sort of what led me to The Wedding People. 

Zibby: I have to go back and read that one now. 

Alison: I mean, I would, I would encourage that. 

Zibby: Okay. You're not going to say no. 

Alison: I will not stop you.

Zibby: We've sold too many of those, you know, sorry. Shop is closed. Was there a particular funny thing from that, horrific period of your life that you are like, this is a perfect example of like, even in the depths of despair, like, listen to how funny this was. 

Alison: Um, I mean, I'm, oh God, I'm sure, I'm sure I'm gonna forget most of the really good ones.

You know, I keep thinking about, or when I was writing notes on your sudden disappearance, a lot of them did flood back to me. And the one that I, that I can think of now is, It's talking to my parents about like, you know, what we're, what we're going to do with my brother's body. You know, are we going to cremate, bury?

And so a lot of the conversation started to become about like, well, what would this process be like? And what would that process be like? Some, I can't even remember like who said this or what, but like someone started talking about how expensive caskets are and like how maybe like we can get one on sale, you know, and I was just like, it just struck me as so funny.

And we, you know, I mean, I don't remember if they were laughing. I'm sure they weren't. Like, I just. I just thought that would, you know, that, I think that was the beginning of me writing a comedy sketch. Like, it was, okay, let's take that idea, this idea, like, that you're going to get a casket on sale and roll with it.

Zibby: Maybe it was, maybe it was, yeah. 

Alison: And like, what would be a high end casket? You know, like, would, would there be like luxury items in there? You know, I don't know. So, so that's the flat screen, flat screen TV, you know, um, um, And that, that really just became the beginning of me joking about those, those really difficult things.

And, and so I don't think I'll ever be writing about anything very dark without making sure that the reader is laughing along the way, in the way that I laughed along the way, and having fun along the way, the way that I also laughed. so had fun. You know, I had a really wonderful life and I'm now talking like I'm dead, but, but, you know, it was everything.

It was, it was everything. And that's always the feeling that I want my books to have is like this feeling of everything. 

Zibby: I have to send you, if you don't mind, at some point we have a book coming out from Civvie Books called I See You've Called In Dead. And it's about an obituary writer who writes his obituary kind of drunk one night and then ends up sending it in.

And so the company thinks he's dead. And if you're dead, you can't fire the person. So he keeps showing up to work. It ends up like. Finding, finding himself by going to all these funerals and it's, it's sort of the same and that you're putting yourself in like, same themes, right? You know, sometimes to really enjoy your life, you have to get very, very close to death, right?

In some way, shape or form, even if you're not sick, you just have to like, get as close to it as possible so you can rebound. Yeah, 

Alison: I know. I agree. And I mean, I remember my Spanish teacher in middle school took me under her wing for a little while. She, she had a, she experienced a similar loss. And I remember like eating lunch across from her one day and I remember her telling me like About her own experiences with that and she was saying, you know Like you really can't experience the highs like the true happiness without that Real low without that genuine sorrow and I mean at the time it It didn't land with me, but it stuck with me.

You know, I kept thinking about it and as I got older and in my 20s and then definitely for sure in my 30s was like, yes, of course, right? Because there can be something really distancing about Avoiding that, you know, even not just the feeling itself, but just also avoiding talking about those things, that there's something numbing about that or something that just keeps us from, um, or keeps me, you know, from really feeling.

all the good feelings too, right? You're in this like neutral place. And so with this book, The Wedding People, you know, I mean, I really wanted Phoebe to be like, it's like, she was the sadness that slipped into the wedding, you know, at the last moment. But I didn't see it as the kind of sadness that was going to make other people sadder.

You know, it wasn't going to infect the wedding. No, no, it's not like that. It's the opposite, right? Like, she gives other people permission to feel their feelings, and she gives other people permission to, to actually say what they, they want to say. And that helps them feel more like themselves, and that helps them feel happier, and, and, you know.

Yeah, I mean, I used to work at weddings, actually. Um, that's another kind of like, where did this book come from? In graduate school, I used to work at, I used to be the photo booth attendant when people started renting photo booths for their weddings, and it was pretty new at the time. Like, I don't think people were doing that back then.

very often, um, when I started doing this. And so everyone was always really confused by who I was because I was told to dress for the event, which meant I was in a cocktail dress, a cocktail party dress and, and looked like a wedding guest, but I was always just like leaning against this photo booth. And like, I was like, Like not talking to anybody, you know, definitely looked like the loneliest person in the room and this actually would attract a lot of other lonely people because they're like, well, she's not having fun either.

Like, let me go talk to her. And, and those are just some of the most interesting conversations. Like once they found out I wasn't actually there for the wedding, it was like, Oh, okay. Well, let me tell you about my family. It was this release, you know, like they, it's like they've been under lockdown for three days, like trying to pretend to enjoy everything, but now they can just reveal all to this random stranger.

And so that was really a huge part of the book for me, too, is like making Phoebe that stranger. That just opens things up for them. 

Zibby: Interesting. I love that. Do you have the green dress from the beginning? 

Alison: It is green. I don't. I've always been in search of it, though. It's like the I'm gonna look for it. If you find it, please let me know.

Zibby: It's very clear in my head. It's a symbol of, I don't know, you could almost make it into like a flag or something, you know. 

Alison: I'm always looking for that color, but it's just never the right style. I'm like, do I buy a dress that I don't like just for the emerald green color? 

Zibby: I mean, there are less crazy things people have done.

Okay, what advice do What advice do you have for aspiring authors, and is there another book in the works? 

Alison: I really love this part of your podcast. I've learned a lot from the other authors who have answered this question. Um, and a lot of people focus on reading, you know, to be a great writer, reading books is really important.

I completely agree with, agree with that. But the thing I. 

Zibby: Yeah. Yeah. I thought you were, I thought you were about to say, but I really don't think you should read. 

Alison: Yeah, I think what you should do is just watch a lot of sitcoms and never read. Now, something that became really important to me as a writer and something I try to help my students see at some point during their time with me is learning how to trust what you like, right?

And learning to trust that what you like is, is worth liking, right? Because I think A lot of young writers, but it doesn't have to be just young writers, right? You know, you really, you start to, you doubt yourself, right? You're like, well, I had like wrote this thing and I liked it last night and now it seems awful and I gave it to the workshop or I gave it to my friend and they're, you know, picking things out, you know, and it can become really easy to just toss that away and, and just say, you know what, no, or just.

to always outsource the opinion, right? Like, is this good? Is this good? Tell me if this is good. And, and there's a place for that, but I think really, like, just, like, developing a sense of trust that you can answer that question for yourself and say, you know what? I like it. And I liked it last night, so I'll probably like it again.

And, uh, Let's just wait until that happens, right? And, and to me, that's like the thing that's carried me through like the ends of novels, right? When you're kind of like, is this any good? Do I like this? You know, and you just gotta trust and just keep going. I love it. And is there another book? There is another book.

I am working on it at the moment. I would love to talk about it, but if I do, it'll ruin the, ruin the magic for me at this moment. So, so I'm not going to say anything about it, but it's another novel and, uh, Similar, similar tone or no? Yes, similar tone, similar tone. I would say probably, you know, another novel like The Wedding People, in which we watch someone sort of get increasingly involved with something that they're really not supposed to be involved with.

And I'm finding a lot of fun with that kind of narrative right now. 

Zibby: Yeah, that is very fun. Oh, I love it. Allison, thank you. This is really awesome. I love the book. I love learning the backstory. I'm so sorry about your brother. And yeah, it's, I can't wait to see it debut and do amazingly well. Not debut. I mean, I'm not, I can't, ugh.

Alison: I know what you mean. 

Zibby: I can't wait to. Watch it launch and really take off. There we go. 

Alison: Well, for being such a supporter of the book and taking the time to talk to me today. It's been a lot of fun. 

Zibby: Good. Well, I'll let you go back to, you know, paving the driveway or whatever. 

Alison: Please, no, no. Keep it here. 

Zibby: All right.

Good luck. Thanks. Bye.