The Wedding Night

A Novel

By: Harriet Walker

Narrated by: Sofia Zervudachi

After ending her engagement, a woman decides to go on a much-needed getaway with her friends to clear her head - but she soon realizes her secret may be the one thing she can’t get away from.

“A twisty, tense and claustrophobic tale of secrets, manipulation and soured relationships. I loved it!” (Claire Douglas, author of Local Girl Missing)

When Lizzie calls off her wedding in the south of France only a week before the big day, not even her closest friends know why. But since the château is already paid for, they figure it’s the perfect place to take Lizzie and get her mind off her suddenly single state.

When the group arrives, it’s as if the wedding is waiting for them.

The next day, Lizzie wakes to find her friends have drunkenly reveled in the wedding-that-wasn’t - but not all their antics were benign. Someone is set on tormenting Lizzie, and she can’t figure out who.

The more the friends try to piece together exactly what happened that night, the more secrets start to come out.

The biggest secret of all - the one that must not be revealed - is Lizzie’s. But as intimidating messages appear around the château, it seems that someone intends to pursue her until it is. Will Lizzie ever be able to escape her past, or will it destroy more than one life on this trip?

©2021 Harriet Walker (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“I devoured The Wedding Night over one weekend. A twisty, tense, and claustrophobic tale of secrets, manipulation, and soured relationships. I loved it!” (Claire Douglas, author of Local Girl Missing)

“A thriller for people who hate thrillers: tightly plotted, smartly drawn characters, captivating story with a satisfying twist at the end. Delicious.” (Pandora Sykes, author of How Do We Know We’re Doing It Right?)

“A fantastically compelling portrait of female friendship and toxic relationships, as well as a tense, atmospheric thriller.” (Katherine Faulkner, author of Greenwich Park)

Luke warm

It's not great, but it's not bad either. A book to help pass the time.

Annoying

The first 7 hrs of this thing was absolutely nothing. Just incredibly dull and predictable. There's no way this should be called a mystery. The book form of a low budget bad lifetime movie.

The bride was beyond annoying. I lost count of the times she said "what did I do to deserve this".
No matter what happened she would say it. I wanted to stop and save my sanity. Then one of them is an "influencer", should not be a thing.

I got lost a few times with the alternating timelines. There's too many characters to do that well. I put up with these spoiled well off idiots thinking it would redeem itself, but it didn't. There's no build up or twists. She tried to offset that by using very expansive verbage.

Bottom line: save your time and money for something else, unless you like drawn out British dramas.