Book Talk with Jason Rekulak
Schedule
Sat, 04 Oct, 2025 at 01:00 am
UTC-04:00Location
771 Haddon Ave., Collingswood, NJ, United States, New Jersey 08108 | Collingswood, NJ
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FREE! Main Stage, Haddon & Frazer Aves. Collingswood Book Festival organizers have announced the 2025 Town Book. This year, everyone is reading instant New York Times bestseller The Last One at the Wedding. Author Jason Rekulak will be returning to the book festival, with its “huge crowds filling the streets to celebrate books and reading and writing. It’s a wonderful thing!” Jason tells us.
The Last One at the Wedding begins when Frank, a fifty-something UPS driver living in Stroudsburg, PA, receives an unexpected phone call from his daughter, Maggie. They have been estranged for three years until Maggie calls to invite Frank to her wedding. Frank is excited to reconnect with his daughter, but soon discovers unsettling secrets about her future in-laws.
“I've wanted to write about a wedding for a long time,” Jason tells us. “I like books that have a very clear and specific structure. And I always thought it would be fun to use the structure of a 3-day wedding weekend as the structure for a novel.”
We follow Frank on an adventure that includes the traditional wedding milestones, peppered with intriguing detours and suspicious behavior. His first meeting with Maggie’s fiancé, the son of a billionaire, ignites fears in Frank for his daughter’s future. The novel explores complicated family relationships, hidden truths, and the destructive impact of affluence and social status.
Finding the narrator’s voice was something different for the author, whose previous novel, Hidden Pictures, was narrated by a 21-year-old woman. In The Last One at the Wedding, Frank has a specific way of speaking.
“The story is narrated by the very gruff and salt-of-the-earth father-of-the-bride,” Jason tells us. “It was tremendous fun to lean into his voice and point of view, which is unlike anything I've seen in recent thrillers.”
While readers may focus on the journey, the affluent setting, and unraveling secrets, the story is threaded with questions about morality, leading to an ending that invites discussion around parental obligation and commitment -- relatable themes for many readers.
“I'm always thrilled when readers say they can relate to my characters,” Jason says. “Stories help us become more empathetic, and the world could use more empathy right now.”
During the week leading up to the book festival, there will be a guided Town Book Discussion at the Collingswood Public Library, where readers will have an opportunity to talk about The Last One at the Wedding before meeting the author on the day of the festival.
Jason is looking forward to meeting his readers. “The people who come to my book events tend to be incredibly kind,” he tells us. “For reasons I don't understand, my novels tend to get passed around a lot of hospitals and schools. I have met dozens and dozens of nurses and teachers at my book signings. There is almost always at least one nurse and one teacher in the audience. So the crowds are usually pretty warm and friendly. They tend to be composed of people who care about other people. It's always a really good vibe.”
Jason Rekulak will be joined at the book festival by Daria Lavelle, whose debut novel, Aftertaste, is a haunting epic about grief, love, food and spirits (both kinds).
Meet the authors on Saturday, October 4, 2025, at the Collingswood Book Festival. Stay tuned for times and details.
Visit the website for the full schedule and festival details.
https://www.collingswoodbookfestival.com/adult-authors-events
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Where is it happening?
771 Haddon Ave., Collingswood, NJ, United States, New Jersey 08108Event Location & Nearby Stays:
