Beach Reading: Five Books You Won't Be Able To Put Down

Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead

The social satire Seating Arrangements is the penetrating debut novel of Maggie Shipstead, who recounts a weekend marriage retreat on the fictional New England isle, Waskeke. The story is centered around the 59 year old Winn van Meter, a Harvard educated man with three daughters, including the bride-to-be. The wedding weekend begins in a standard manner, but a tangled web of plots leads to both turmoil, and genuine hilarity. Similarly to her protagonist, Shipstead herself graduated from Harvard, and has definitely made a splash on the literary scene with her wittily crafted Seating Arrangements. Seating Arrangements, by Maggie Shipstead [Photo via]