{"product_id":"wreck-9781804997505","title":"Wreck","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe perfect summer read from the much-loved bestselling author of WE ALL WANT IMPOSSIBLE THINGS and SANDWICH. In a new unifying look, a novel that reminds us what it means to be beautifully, messily human.  The NEW YORK TIMES bestseller. A wonderful novel full of laughter and heart, about marriage, family and what happens when life doesn't go as planned.   '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, author of The Wedding People  'I LOVE her work... the antidote to these times' MARIAN KEYES  'Gorgeously human, tender-hearted, and delightfully funny' NUSSAIBAH YOUNIS, author of Fundamentally  _______  Rachel (Rocky) is seemingly living her best life as the irreverent, funny beating heart of her family. Her ageing father is his unique, adorable self; daughter Willa is prone to bouts of existential angst whilst berating the fact that her mother has zero filter; husband Nick is steady, logical, sometimes infuriating.  They are messy, they are flawed, they are completely, ridiculously normal.  And like most normal people, Rocky worries about what might happen next. So when a former classmate of her son Jamie dies in a seemingly random accident, Rocky becomes obsessed.  For if accidents can happen - and they do - is it truly safe to love anyone?  Fresh, honest, laugh out loud funny and genuinely relatable, WRECK follows Rocky and her family through one rollercoaster year as they negotiate the unpredictable and beautiful messiness of life.  If you love the brilliant humour and observation of Elizabeth Strout, Norah Ephron or Katherine Heiny, you will love Catherine Newman, who reminds us what it is to be beautifully messily human!   _______  Readers say:  'Wreck feels like Newman was writing directly to me. And what's so impressive is, I think many, many, many readers will feel like it was just for them too.'  'Feels like meeting up with old friends'  'It's like Catherine Newman knows exactly how I feel'  'I feel seen every time I read  Catherine Newman's  words'  'There is just some kind of magic in Catherine Newman's writing that makes me want to dog-ear every page'  Reviews say:  'Hugely enjoyable, absolutely real and thoughtful...Newman has an Ephron-esque gift for blending the sharp and the sad and an ability to let us love her creations.' Observer  'Darkly funny, achingly emotional' Woman \u0026amp; Home  'Insightful and totally relatable' Good Housekeeping  'The new queen of the bittersweet novel' Independent\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9781804997505\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 04 Aug 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: United Kingdom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 19.7(H)x12.7(L)x1.7(W)190\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): 190\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003eCatherine Newman is the New York Times bestselling author of Sandwich and We All Want Impossible Things, which was also chosen for the Richard \u0026amp; Judy Book Club. She is also the author of the memoirs Catastrophic Happiness and Waiting for Birdy, and the bestselling children's book How to be a Person. She is a regular contributor to the New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, Cup of Jo, and many other publications. She writes the Substack newsletter Crone Sandwich and lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, with her family.\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cb\u003eBeautiful, funny, wry, relatable and uplifting\u003c\/b\u003e…\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eI LOVE her work, it's so clever and \u003cb\u003ecomforting\u003c\/b\u003e and\u003cb\u003e the antidote to these times.\u003c\/b\u003e * Marian Keyes *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWreck\u003c\/i\u003e is \u003cb\u003ethe kind of book that pulls up a chair, pours the wine, and dives deep\u003c\/b\u003e—equal parts hilarious, sharp, and achingly sincere. It’s \u003cb\u003elike spending hours with the friend who sees your mess and loves you more for it.\u003c\/b\u003e 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 *\u003cbr\u003eI loved it! \u003cb\u003eA gorgeously human, tender-hearted, and delightfully funny\u003c\/b\u003e exploration of the anxieties that beset all of us, and the loving relationships and irrepressible joy that gets us through. * Nussaibah Younis, author of international bestseller Fundamentally *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAnother heart wrencher from the incomparable Catherine Newman. \u003c\/b\u003eShe writes about the minutiae of family, love and why we are here with such joy, humour and emotion it almost hurts. I laughed out loud along the way, then the final page had me in tears. Wrecked me! * Claire Daverley, author of Talking at Night *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow comforting, how satisfying, and how delicious \u003c\/b\u003eto 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, \u003ci\u003eWreck\u003c\/i\u003e 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 *\u003cbr\u003eCatherine Newman is \u003cb\u003ethe funniest and most tender hearted writer alive\u003c\/b\u003e. I hope people are reading Wreck for years to come. Rocky and everyone in her universe shows as \u003cb\u003ewhat humans can do and be when we're at our very best\u003c\/b\u003e. * Daisy Buchanan, author of Insatiable *\u003cbr\u003eEndorsing a new Catherine Newman novel feels \u003cb\u003ea bit like endorsing puppies or chocolate cake\u003c\/b\u003e. It's a new Catherine Newman novel. Of course you want to read it. \u003ci\u003eWreck\u003c\/i\u003e is a delight. .. Newman's prose \u003cb\u003eis laugh-out-loud funny. It's also profound\u003c\/b\u003e. I underlined so many passages in this treasure of a novel. * J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author of The Cliffs *\u003cbr\u003eCatherine 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... Newman gives us a narrator whose fierce intelligence and generous heart \u003cb\u003emake even the most ordinary moments shimmer with grace.\u003c\/b\u003e * Meghan O'Rourke, New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Kingdom *\u003cbr\u003eNewman 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 \u003cb\u003eabsolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life\u003c\/b\u003e. * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *\u003cbr\u003eCatherine Newman has my heart . . . . Newman is my dream writer, and \u003cb\u003eshe channels the perfect cocktail of humanity into her characters\u003c\/b\u003e, 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 \u003cb\u003ehow to be alive, to be a person, to be good, to be worthy.\u003c\/b\u003e * Lithub (Most Anticipated Books) *","brand":"Catherine Newman","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49077109129433,"sku":"9781804997505","price":24.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/9781804997505.jpg?v=1786457153","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/wreck-9781804997505","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}