Seventeen weddings. Six months. Only the strong survive.

Joy Silverman and her boyfriend, Gabriel Winslow, seem perfect for each other. Living together in New York City, they have everything they want and everything in common — most important, that neither one wants to get married. Ever.

But when Joy finds herself obligated to attend seventeen weddings in six months (including those of her father, mother, younger brother, and five of her closest girlfriends), the couple is forced to take a new look at why they're so opposed to marriage when the rest of the world can't wait to walk down the aisle. As the season heats up and the pressure mounts, Joy must confront what it means — and what it costs — to be true to one's self.

A witty, wicked comedy of manners in the satirical tradition of Jane Austen and Evelyn Waugh, Wedding Season is an intelligent, laugh-out-loud funny examination of friendship, faith, integrity, and the ideas and institutions that bind us together, shape our lives, and define who we are.

"Seventeen weddings in six months — what's a girl to do? Especially when she's Joy Silverman, who's perfectly happy in her relationship with Gabe and perfectly adamant about her refusal to ever get married. First, there was the breakup of her parents' marriage and her mother's subsequent emotional meltdown; second, there's the lack of any 'empirical evidence that marriage is really all useful or effective these days, that it does anything for relationships and the people in them.' But most of Joy's friends and acquaintances — not to mention her recently betrothed mother, father and younger brother — do believe in marriage. Thank goodness cynical Joy's artsy hunk of a boyfriend agrees with her that marriage is as outdated as 'using leeches or bloodletting.' But everyone keeps asking when Joy and Gabe will tie the knot, a situation that causes Joy no small amount of turmoil. So, from April to September, Joy and Gabe dance and drink and toast; in between weddings, Joy spends plenty of time with pals at the Pantheon, her favorite New York City watering hole. Despite the whirlwind of nuptials, Cosper manages to keep each ceremony distinct (some are formal, some involve paparazzi, some are same-sex commitment ceremonies). Cosper's dialogue can get too jokey, and there are a few too many self-consciously colorful characters. But Joy's narration is sly and sharp, and Cosper doesn't fall into the happily-ever-after trap readers of hip chick fiction have come to expect. Agent, Elizabeth Sheinkman. (Mar.) Forecast: A blurb from Gary Shteyngart, who calls Wedding Season 'a social comedy on a grand scale,' should alert readers that this offering is meatier than the average bridesmaid's tale. " Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Wonderful....Wedding Season is social comedy on a grand scale. A hilarious and urbane primer on getting hitched-or not-in the twenty-first century." Gary Shteyngart, author of The Russian Debutante's Handbook

"If Jane Austen and Candace Bushnell were to meet for a long drink in a downtown bar, the delightful result might be a contemporary comedy of manners with a decidedly old-fashioned feel. Darcy Cosper has given us just that: a sweet and sharply funny concoction that will have bridesmaids everywhere nodding their heads in recognition." Dani Shapiro, author of Family History

"Everybody is doing it in this book — getting married, that is. Wedding Season is a glorious depiction of the battle between the sexes (and the same sexes); it is a gem of a novel, sparkling with heart and wit and humor." Jonathan Ames, author of What's Not to Love?

"Crackling banter, vibrant friends, and pithy observations on modern weddings veil the tough choice at the story's core. A-." Entertainment Weekly

Seventeen weddings. Six months. Only the strong survive.

Joy Silverman and her boyfriend, Gabriel Winslow, seem perfect for each other. Living together in New York City, they have everything they want and everything in common--most important, that neither one wants to get married. Ever.

But when Joy finds herself obligated to attend seventeen weddings in six months (including those of her father, mother, younger brother, and five of her closest girlfriends), the couple is forced to take a new look at why they're so opposed to marriage when the rest of the world can't wait to walk down the aisle. As the season heats up and the pressure mounts, Joy must confront what it means — and what it costs — to be true to one's self.

A witty, wicked comedy of manners in the satirical tradition of Jane Austen and Evelyn Waugh, Wedding Season is an intelligent, laugh-out-loud funny examination of friendship, faith, integrity, and the ideas and institutions that bind us together, shape our lives, and define who we are.

"If Jane Austen and Candace Bushnell were to meet for a long drink in a downtown bar, the delightful result might be a contemporary comedy of manners with a decidedly old-fashioned feel. Darcy Cosper has given us just that: a sweet and sharply funny concoction that will have bridesmaids everywhere nodding their heads in recognition." — Dani Shapiro, author of Family History

"Wonderful....Wedding Season is social comedy on a grand scale. A hilarious and urbane primer on getting hitched-or not-in the twenty-first century." — Gary Shteyngart, author of The Russian Debutante's Handbook

Bold, funny, and highly entertaining, WEDDING SEASON is a Jane Austen-like comedy of manners that follows the trials and tribulations of Joy Silverman, a twenty-something law school drop out-turned-ghostwriter who must reevaluate her hostile attitude towards marriage when she finds herself obligated to attend an astonishing seventeen weddings in six months.

Darcy Cosper is a writer and book reviewer. Her work has appeared in many publications, including The New York Times Book Review, Bookforum, the Village Voice, Nerve, and GQ, and in the anthologies Full Frontal Fiction and the forthcoming Sex & Sensibility. She lives in Los Angeles and New York. This is her first novel.