Wreck - Large Print by Catherine Newman (Paperback)

About the Book

"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"--

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

"A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"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
"This 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 . . . Newman gives us a narrator whose fierce intelligence and generous heart make even the most ordinary moments shimmer with grace." - Meghan O'Rourke, The New York Times
"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"
"If you liked Sandwich, you'll love Wreck, its warm, witty sequel . . . . Some characters are just too good to let go after a single book: Olive Kitteridge, Hercule Poirot, Tom Sawyer. And now, in Wreck, Catherine Newman has given Rocky, the sharp-witted, neurotically doting mother who narrates her delicious 2024 novel, Sandwich, a repeat engagement . . . . Wreck is even funnier, yet also more earnest in its explorations of life's fundamental impermanence." - NPR.org
"A winning blend of pathos and humor. . . . A bittersweet gem of a book." - The Boston Globe
" 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
"A wise book, in addition to being a funny one." - The Minneapolis Star Tribune
"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"
"If you loved Catherine Newman's summery escape to Cape Cod in Sandwich, trust that you'll equally relish Wreck's trip to an autumnal Western Massachusetts . . . . Newman's sparkling humor and heart are on full display as the middle-aged Rocky spirals over a local tragedy that could have impacted her loved ones (but didn't) and a strange rash she can't seem to cure with a cursory Google search. Newman zooms in on these 'small, ' everyday sagas in a manner that reveals them as the huge, life-shifting events they really are. The author has a knack for depicting how pain, joy, and uncertainty all too frequently intermingle--and is eager to make readers laugh in spite of it all." - Elle
"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
"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
"You know those books you wish you could live inside of? This is one of them . . . . Relatable, laugh-out-loud funny, and as heartwarming as Sandwich, Wreck had this writer looking up if it was possible to be adopted by a fictional family." - Marie Claire
"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
"The book I'm recommending is Wreck by Catherine Newman. I am a woman of a certain age, and if you haven't yet reached that stage of life when your body starts falling apart, it might sound terrifying. Wreck reveals the truth. It can be, but it can also be filled with warmth... Wreck is both a bomb and a wry smile because it's only life after all." ⎯ Sarah Handel, NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday
"There were about three laughs per page in Sandwich and there are at least that many again in Wreck . . . . It's a wise book, in addition to being a funny one." - Minneapolis Star Tribune
"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
"A warmhearted story about the fragility of life and the bonds of affection that help us weather its most difficult moments . . . . Newman is unafraid to roll up her sleeves and wade into the blessed messiness of family life, presenting Rocky and her clan with both honesty and tenderness in all their complex ordinariness . . . . Wreck's life-affirming conclusion will leave readers grateful for this helping of Rocky's gentle wisdom and, almost certainly, hungry for more." - BookPage
"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
"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
"If you're looking for a book that will make you laugh and cry in equal measure, Catherine Newman's Wreck delivers!" - Woman's World
"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
"Catherine Newman taps into our own hopes and fears. But she does so with incredible warmth and humor. Rocky is the kind of mother we all aspire to be. One who somehow finds the strength to push through her own challenges to have the energy she needs to tend to those around her. Few of us really succeed, but trying is often good enough." - Woman Around Town