In the spirit of Cathleen Schine’s best books, A Wedding in Great Neck an effervescent yet deep story about family and the ways in which the powerful ties that bind us can also cut us off and keep us apart. Taking place in a single day, A Wedding In Great Neck follows the Silverstein clan as they come together for nuptials of the youngest daughter, Angelica. Angelica is the family’s golden girl—intelligent, beautiful and accomplished, she is both everyone’s favorite, and the object of much envy and resentment. She has planned a fairy tale wedding to her Israeli fiancé—a former fighter pilot—and is determined to have everything go perfectly. But things do not go according to plan, and there are complications, dramas and confrontations at every turn.
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Praise for A WEDDING IN GREAT NECK
“McDonough has assembled a touching, airy novel that manages to meld the concerns of
family members spanning four generations into a delightfully well-written story…With an authorial voice that switches deftly
between impulsive teen-speak and a stately matriarch’s flashbacks, McDonough’s skill is to be
commended. A tender, clever story with emotional heft.”
—Booklist
“A confection that is not only a page turner but a poignant view of family life. . .Book clubs will swoon.”
—Adriana Trigiani, author of The Shoemaker’s Wife
“In prose as sparkling as a champagne toast, McDonough’s delicious new novel gathers together one extraordinary wedding, two complicated families, and then shows how a single day can change everything. A funny, moving look at the bonds of love, the ties of family, and the yearning for happily ever after.”
—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You.
“A playful yet touching parsing of the tugs and tangles of familial bonds.”
—Sally Koslow, author of Slouching Toward Adulthood: Observations from the Not-So-Empty Nest
“Yona Zeldis McDonough is a born storyteller and her powers of perception are at full tilt in her latest novel, A Wedding in Great Neck. Beautifully structured around the secret longings and high emotions visited upon that special day, the book explores the fraught love between siblings, the rich wisdom of their elders, and shifting class values in one family. McDonough’s Wedding is a page turner — you’ll feel as if you were there.”
—Laura Jacobs, author of The Bird Catcher