Destination Funeral

By: Pagie Harbison

Narrator: Paige Harbison

ISBN: 9781250358103

Puublisher: St. Martin' Press

Publication Date: 07/21/2026

Format: Other

My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)

JUL 2026 MUST-READ BOOKS

The Big Chill meets About Time in this laugh-out-loud funny and equally heartbreaking novel, following a friend group so damaged that only a funeral could bring them back together. Perfect for fans of The Wedding People and One Italian Summer.

When Babe—the complicated, magnetic matriarch of their teenage summers—dies, four estranged friends return to sleepy Mercy Island, a storm-swept stretch of coastal Georgia, summoned by the reading of her will.

Didion arrives at the timeworn pink house to find the friends she never thought she’d see again—along with the tensions, attractions, and unfinished business that once bound them together and broke them apart.

What should be a brief weekend of small talk quickly unravels when they wake up and discover...it’s Saturday. Again. And again. And again.

Trapped in a time loop with no end and no instructions, they’re forced to confront the betrayals, breakups, and buried truths that shattered them all those years ago. Because maybe, just maybe, an endless weekend is exactly what they all need to save their own lives.

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My Review

THE SATURDAY CLOCK KEEPS RESETTING, AND THE PAST DEMANDS AN ACCOUNTING.

"A brilliant, deeply human psychological puzzle that keeps you entirely captivated through short chapters and Top-Tier multi-generational drama."

In Destination Funeral, acclaimed author Paige Harbison delivers a laugh-out-loud funny, deeply heartbreaking, and brilliantly immersive coastal Georgia magical realism contemporary mystery. The story hinges on an estranged daughter and her former teenage friend group navigating immense psychological and temporal hurdles to survive an endless time loop during a high-stakes gathering for a maternal will reading.

Sun-drenched coastal nostalgia vs. a magical reality-bending reckoning. A painful hometown return for a mother's celebration of life turns into an agonizingly tense, paranoid emotional trap when four damaged friends wake up to discover they are reliving the same Saturday over and over again.

Elevator Pitch

A high-concept, poignant psychological comedy drama described as "The Big Chill" meets "About Time," following four estranged friends trapped in a localized time loop at a timeworn pink beach house, forcing them to unpack a decade of toxic breakups and bitter betrayals.

Review Breakdown

Intro

When Babe—the magnetic, highly complicated matriarch of her teenage summers—passes away, her estranged daughter Didion Bennett reluctantly flies back to her childhood summer sanctuary. Expecting nothing more than a tense weekend of awkward small talk with her sister and local, she arrives at the family's pink beach house to find the exact circle of friends she abandoned ten years prior. But the awkward reunion takes a supernatural turn when the clock stops moving forward; every morning, the group wakes up to find it is Saturday again, trapping them inside their unresolved history until they choose to fix it.

To break the cycle, they have to uncover the massive betrayals and secrets that blew them apart a decade ago. It is so smart, the dialogue is incredibly witty, and the island atmosphere is gorgeous.

Setting

The sleepy, storm-swept, and highly atmospheric environment of Mercy Island, Georgia, centered entirely around a historic, timeworn pink beach house.

Vibe

Nostalgic, witty, and emotionally layered. It perfectly pairs the messy, multi-generational sister and mother-daughter friction of One Italian Summer with the clever, high-adrenaline time-loop puzzle of The Wedding People.

Genre

Magical Realism / Contemporary Drama / Psychological Suspense.

Themes

~The Way Grief Suspends and Freezes Time

~The Lifelong Trauma of Complicated Mother-Daughter Bonds

~The Heavy Burden of Eldest Daughter Syndrome

~The Stories and Lies We Tell Ourselves About the Past

Standout Characters

~Didion Bennett: The frustrating, deeply defensive protagonist whose messy internal armor slowly cracks open as she navigates her immense grief and sisterly strain.

~Babe: The larger-than-life, incredibly complex late matriarch whose vibrant presence and final will orchestrate the entire group's reckoning from beyond the grave.

~Matt: Dubbed "The Sane One," an anxious, high-achieving New York City defense lawyer trying desperately to maintain professional boundaries while trapped in a supernatural loop.

Author Writing Standout

Paige Harbison showcases a stunning gift for exploring realistic relationships without letting the magical realism elements feel like a cheap gimmick. Her dialogue sparks with a beautiful balance of snappy, sarcastic humor and striking, raw vulnerability.

Takeaway

Closure is not an automatic gift granted by the steady passage of linear time; it is a painful, active choice we have to make repeatedly.

Title Significance

Destination Funeral plays on the classic, luxury travel concept of a destination wedding—ironically highlighting how the ultimate endpoint for this broken friend group isn't a celebration of a future, but a forced confrontation with death.

Metaphor

The unending Saturday time loop serves as a flawless metaphor for grief itself—a heavy, psychological cage that physically keeps you emotionally stuck in place long after the rest of the world has moved on.

Why You Should Read

Having thoroughly enjoyed the author's previous work, this is an absolute triumph that showcases her gift for putting real, messy, human hearts inside an extraordinary, magical premise.

My Thoughts

"An emotionally sharp, beautifully atmospheric contemporary novel that pairs laugh-out-loud humor with the devastating realities of grief."

The narrative pacing builds with a masterful turn of the screw. Harbison crafts an agonizingly good, poolside-ready mystery where every single repetition of Saturday peels back an entirely new layer of resentment, longing, and small-town guilt. Didion is a wonderfully complicated lead, and the seaside island atmosphere is an absolute vibe.

Verdict ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)

"A dazzling summer blockbuster masterpiece that will make you want to hug your friends and book a beach house immediately."

Recs

Read this if you devoured The Other Side of Now by Paige Harbison, One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle, Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, or the witty, speculative premises of Emily Henry’s Happy Place.

Special thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks

My Rating: 4 Stars

Pub Date: July 21, 2026

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Praise

One of People Magazine's "Must-Read Books for Summer 2026"

An ArtsATL Summer Read Pick

"Harbison's prose effectively walks the line between emotional catharsis and humor, with characters that feel real and choices that feel believable. Harbison is becoming one to watch for contemporary magical realism, following up 2025's The Other Side of Now. Perfect for fans of the film version of Practical Magic or Josie Silver's The Two Lives of Lydia Bird (2020)."

―Booklist

"For fans of Practical Magic, summer romance, and breezy beach reads, this is an optimal choice."

―Library Journal

“Paige is that rare talent―a writer who can make you laugh and cry in the space of a few lines. This book is packed full of wit, charm, a delicious amount of tension, and characters you won’t want to say goodbye to. I adored it!”

―Sophie Cousens, New York Times bestselling author of This Time Next Year

"A tender, speculative exploration of grief, family (of all varieties), and forgiveness. A cheeky, whimsical reminder of the old adage that it is never about the destination. This story will make you want to stay in the time loop, even when you reach the very last page."

―Carolyn Huynh, author of The Fortunes of Jaded Women

"Funny and full of emotional, Destination Funeral is a beautiful novel about love, family and, of course, time loops. The premise is (literally) magic, but Paige Harbison’s characters feel so incredibly real. You’ll finish the book wanting to hug them all, and also wanting to live in a pink beach house."

―Laura Hankin, author of One-Star Romance

"In Destination Funeral, a mother’s death sends her estranged daughter into a time loop the eve of her funeral. Trapped in one endless Saturday with her sister, her ex, and her ex friend in the beach house where they spent summers in their youth, this is romantic magical realism at its best. With characters you fall in love with, the world’s dreamiest setting, and a propulsive story filled with twists and turns, this novel is so special. I can’t wait to recommend it to everyone!” ―Gabrielle Korn, author of Long Island Girls

”Destination Funeral was like having a glass of chilled wine on the porch of a vacation home with your best friend. The book is lush and funny and sexy and heartfelt. It felt like magically packing all the right things for a vacation."

―Sophia Benoit, author of The Very Definition of Love

“Grief isn’t tidy. Old conflicts and parts of ourselves are surfaced―and strange things happen to time. Harbison blends these elements with heart in a witty, honest, and decidedly pink universe that left me craving more.”

―Thea Weiss, author of Second Chance Cinema

About the Author

I grew up in the Washington D.C. area, raised by a musician and a writer. I graduated high school early, and went to college in St. Augustine, FL. Then, between Freshman and Sophomore year, I wrote my first novel. Everything in my life changed when, the following semester, I signed my first contract at age nineteen.

I transferred schools three times for fun, and changed my major from Theatre to Painting in order to accommodate my new career. I graduated early from Towson University and continued to work on my first three published novels, all YA: Here Lies Bridget, New Girl, and Anything to Have You.

Throughout the next decade I worked as a bartender and ghostwriter, traveling as much as I could, living it up in the name of book inspo.

At the start of the pandemic, I moved with my family to Palm Springs, CA and finally slowed down enough to start thinking about my own next chapter, which led me to leave the service industry, take some opportunities in film and TV, and start work on my next book.

I am now based in Los Angeles, California, where I live with my dog, Tarot, my partner, Richie, and the 12-9000 uninvited spiders that live in and around our home.

find me on instagram and TikTok, where I do comedy videos! @pharbeaux