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  • Published: 11 March 2025
  • ISBN: 9781804993187
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 256
  • RRP: $22.99

Sandwich




One week in Cape Cod. The perfect family holiday. What could possibly go wrong...? From the author of We All Want Impossible Things, a raucously funny novel with an unexpected punch about being 'sandwiched' between growing children and ageing parents and the power of change.

  • Instant NEW YORK TIMES bestseller
  • STYLIST Book of the Month: ‘A holiday reading gem’
  • GUARDIAN Book of the Week: ‘Wise and exquisitely written’
  • RACHEL JOYCE: ‘A piece of perfection'
  • From the author of Richard & Judy Bookclub pick, We All Want Impossible Things
****

'Life is a seesaw, and I am standing dead center, still and balanced: living kids on one side, living parents on the other. Nicky here with me at the fulcrum. Don't move a muscle, I think. But I will, of course. You have to...'

For the past two decades, Rocky has looked forward to her family’s yearly escape to the beach. The humble, quirky house they rent has been the site of sweet memories, sunny days, shared mishaps and memories. It is a place where her family comes together and Rocky wants to cling to every moment. But with her body in open revolt and surprises invading her peaceful haven, the seesaw of Rocky’s life is tipping towards change…
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‘I stand in awe… it’s just perfect’ Elin Hilderbrand

‘A protagonist like Rocky is so necessary, because a whole generation will now be able to read this wise and exquisitely written story and say I know how you feel.’ Guardian

Will have you laughing through your tears . . . . You’ll be screenshotting paragraphs of this heartbreakingly honest novel to send to your friends’ Real Simple

‘Engaging, frank, funny and moving’ Daily Mail

‘Astute emotional insight and an infectious sense of humour. A gem of a novel’ Observer

Sandwich is joy in book form. I laughed continuously, except for the parts that made me cry. Catherine Newman does a miraculous job reminding us of all the wonder there is to be found in life’ Ann Patchett, author of Tom Lake

‘If you are after a book to pack on your next holiday, look no further. Here is a novel which will go down as easily as a chilled poolside drink’ i Newspaper

‘I adored this novel and am forcing it on everyone I know - Jenny Colgan, author of The Summer Skies

‘Newman is truly a master of taking complex and chaotic human emotion and making sense of it’ Guardian

‘If you want to laugh out loud, tear up and rush to pull out a book in the 35 seconds between subway stops, this sweet, savory, tenderhearted Sandwich fits the bill, and goes down like (bread and) buttah’ New York Times

‘A wonderful book about how families love, disagree, fail one another - and endure’ Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

New York Times bestseller, July 2024

  • Published: 11 March 2025
  • ISBN: 9781804993187
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 256
  • RRP: $22.99

About the author

CATHERINE NEWMAN

Catherine Newman is an award-winning writer and columnist. She is the author of the memoirs Catastrophic Happiness and Waiting for Birdy, and the children's books One Mixed-Up Night, Stitch Camp, How to Be a Person and What Can I Say?. She edits the non-profit kids' cooking magazine ChopChop, writes the etiquette column for Real Simple magazine, and is a regular contributor to the New York Times, The Washington Post, O The Oprah Magazine, The Boston Globe, and many other publications. We All Want Impossible Things is her debut novel for adults. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, with her family.

Also by CATHERINE NEWMAN

See all

Praise for Sandwich

Sandwich is joy in book form. I laughed continuously, except for the parts that made me cry. Catherine Newman does a miraculous job reminding us of all the wonder there is to be found in life.

Ann Patchett, New York Times bestselling author of Tom Lake

A piece of perfection… Family, love, secrets, a marriage that is ordinary, imperfect, sexy and beautiful… I laughed, I cried and I laughed some more… a wonderful book about how families love, disagree, fail one another - and endure.

Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Catherine Newman is basically a national treasure at this point… so it’s not surprising that her new hilarious, deeply moving, gorgeously plotted, beautifully written, slyly subversive new novel, Sandwich, hit me like a ton of bricks…. a novel written from a place of wonder and love

Joanna Rakoff, NYT bestselling author of My Salinger Year

I adored this novel and am forcing it on everyone I know

Jenny Colgan, author of The Summer Skies

This will break your heart before putting it back together

Red

If you are after a book to pack on your next holiday, look no further. Here is a novel which will go down as easily as a chilled poolside drink ... Sandwich has such poignant things to say about family, marriage and parenting, while also casting a gorgeous light on those golden holiday days (even if you do spend most of the trip dragging sand around or looking for parking). A hilarious tonic of a book.

i Newspaper

Newman transitions with ease from moments of melancholy to observations which make you laugh out loud. A moving read which finds the joy in everyday life.

PA Media

Explores the compromises of a long marriage and the bittersweetness of children leaving home so beautifully

Good Housekeeping

This author has such an acute observation of relationships ... Catherine creates a real snapshot of families changing and growing

Prima

Engaging, frank, funny and moving and fearlessly explores middle age’s many challenges. In every sense the hot summer read.

Daily Mail

Newman is truly a master of taking complex and chaotic human emotion and making sense of it ... wise and exquisitely written

Guardian

Funny, wise, poignant and beautifully written

Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina

Newman’s second work of fiction confirms her as a writer with a sharp ear for dialogue, astute emotional insight, and an infectious sense of humour. A gem of a novel.

Observer

If you want to laugh out loud, tear up and rush to pull out a book in the 35 seconds between subway stops, this sweet, savory, tenderhearted Sandwich fits the bill, and goes down like (bread and) buttah.

New York Times

[Sandwich] practically glows with family feeling . . . . [it] has much in common with Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake

Washington Post

Sandwich is my idea of the perfect summer novel: shimmering and substantive

Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air

Newman is warm, generous, always funny—but always with the intent to make you laugh at yourself as much as the characters. A beach novel to pass onto your best friends

Oprah Daily

Feels like eating pastries (from the 'good' bakery) over coffee while venting to my mother on the beach

Boston Globe

I stand in awe, it’s just perfect

Elin Hilderbrand, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Swan Song

This delightful book just begs to get sand between its pages

People

Sandwich will have you laughing through your tears . . . You’ll be screenshotting paragraphs of this heartbreakingly honest novel to send to your friends

Real Simple

I couldn’t love it more, can’t stop talking about it, can’t stop texting full paragraphs to my friends saying, Right!!??? . . . It’s so completely fun and laugh-out-loud funny the way summer reads are supposed to be

Jenny Rosenstrach, Cup of Jo

[Newman] has a gift for exploring the real, messy contradictions in human emotions . . . A moving, hilarious reminder that parenthood, just like life, means constant change

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

What I love about this book is we see from the perspective of the mother how incredibly excited she is to bring her family all together again, which is something I can relate to . . . she is in that sandwich generation, in that middle place in life. Newman did an exquisite job of showing that middle place with a lot of humor and sensitivity and kindness. It’s a book I couldn’t stop thinking about when I finished

Liz Egan, New York Times Book Review podcast

The last book that really made me laugh. I loved it.

Liane Moriarty

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