The Stranger at the Wedding

March 1, 2024

Annie and Mark connect at a group counseling session for trauma survivors and quickly fall in love, but on their wedding day, Annie stands at the altar and spots a stranger--and realizes that her life isn't going to have a happily-ever-after. UK literary agent Gauntlett's debut receives a 100K-copy first printing. Prepub Alert.

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Starred review from June 10, 2024
Literary agent Gauntlett debuts with an un-put-downable thriller about a couple whose relationship unravels on their wedding night. University professor Annie Clark has put an uncommon amount of care into her wedding to surgeon Mark Lane, which goes off without a hitch until she spots an uninvited guest. From there, flashbacks reveal how Mark’s marriage to his first wife, Hope, fractured amid his drinking and their fertility issues, and how Hope disappeared without a trace after befriending a mysterious woman named Charlotte. Devastated, Mark joined a support group for trauma survivors, and met Annie outside the venue one evening. Meanwhile, the uninvited wedding guest turns out to be a PI hired by Mark’s father to investigate Hope’s disappearance, and his presence causes Mark to spiral. Soon, he’s casting suspicion on Annie, wondering whether their meeting was truly by chance and becoming increasingly curious about the deaths of her father and sister. Gauntlett moves fluidly between past and present, gradually revealing the secrets behind Hope’s disappearance without once allowing the pace to flag. By the time the explosive finale arrives, readers may find they’ve been up all night.

August 1, 2024
Gauntlett's debut domestic thriller is a tale about obsessive love. Set in London, the plot revolves around Annie, a history and mythology professor. She falls in love at first sight with Mark on her morning train commute. One year later, the two meet again at a support group for trauma survivors and embark on a whirlwind romance. Both Mark and Annie hide their questionable pasts from each other as they seek stability. Soon they are getting married, even though Mark's first wife is still missing. When a mysterious man attends their wedding, Annie questions whether she may have been too naive. Is there such a thing as true love? Was their meeting really a chance encounter? What actually happened to Mark's first wife? Annie slowly realizes that her new life might not have a happily ever after ending. Told in multiple time lines and through references to Greek mythology, this addictive thriller is filled with dark secrets, culminating in an unexpected, twisty ending. Recommended for readers of Carola Lovering, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, and Liv Constantine.

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