Title: Destination Funeral
Author: Paige Harbison
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication date: July 21, 2026
Length: 320 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:
A fresh take on Groundhog Day with a dash of Practical Magic meets the magical escapism of One Italian Summer in this heartfelt and hilarious novel following a friend group so damaged that only a funeral could bring them back together.
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.
Sometimes a book about chosen family hits just right… and Destination Funeral does just that. In this story about friends, estrangement, resentment, and reconciliation, a time loop forces four former friends to face the issues that drove them apart while gathered for a funeral at the place where they spent their teen-aged summers.
When Babe dies, she leaves instructions for her funeral to be held at her sprawling beachside house on Mercy Island, Georgia. Her daughters Didion and Sammie arrive, having not seen or spoken to one another in years. Didion, the older sister, resents having to be the responsible one, watching helplessly as free-spirit Sammie makes one bad choice after another. Their long-time best friend Matt arrives with his four-year-old daughter, and rounding out the foursome of adults is Austin, Didion’s teen love and source of her greatest heartbreaks.
As they arrive that Friday, they learn that Babe has left the house to all four of them, on the condition that they spend the weekend there, without phones or laptops, until the funeral on Sunday. Reluctantly, they agree, spend a tension-filled Saturday coping with being in one another’s presence again after so long, and grit their teeth until they can get over with it and return to their regular lives. But when they wake up the next morning, they soon realize that it’s Saturday… again. And so their Groundhog Day time loop begins, with a seemingly endless stream of Saturdays to relive.
But why? And how? Has Babe somehow made this happen? And if so, what will it take to break out of the loop?
As the four are forced to spend time together, old wounds and secrets resurface… and as the day repeats and repeats, the ice between them begins to thaw. Didion is our point-of-view character, and she’s a fascinating person to watch the world with. Her complicated feelings toward Babe and Sammie stem back to her teens, and her role as the responsible person, the one who has to make sure everyone else is okay, has carried forward through her adult year as a driven, successful chef — who can never relax and think about what she herself needs. Even more complicated is her reunion with Austin, someone whom she once loved whole-heartedly and never got over — but also never truly understood. Now, in the time loop, Didion finally has days on end where she can do nothing but be present, forcing her to reflect, understand where she herself added to the messier moments, and the ways in which she let other people down too.
The storytelling focuses on the now — and the endless Saturdays — with “then” chapters mixed in to show the early years on the island, and how the sisters and their friends experienced life with Babe, including moments of utter bliss (Halloween in July!) as well as the loneliness of having a fun mother who couldn’t or wouldn’t actually take care of them.
The relationships are all beautifully drawn. It takes the full length of the book to learn key facts about Babe and understand some of her actions. Likewise, Didion’s realizations and reconnections with the others come gradually — we’re by her side as she slowly starts to unravel her more harmful thought patterns and understand why and how she’s allowed herself to shut out the people who once formed the center of her life. I loved seeing the way the time loop serves as a catalyst for the emotional healing that these four people so desperately need.
It’s not all dramatic and serious — Destination Funeral has lovely moments of humor and fun, and it’s a wonderful homage to the glory of a summer spent in the sunshine, playing on a beach, eating good food, and enjoying a slower way of life.
The author’s previous book, The Other Side of Now, was one of my surprise favorites from 2025, and I’m delighted that her newest book hits so many high marks for me as well. Destination Funeral is a beautifully told story about the importance of holding onto the special people in our lives — whether family or friends — even when it’s hard or outside stress gets in the way. It’s also a wonderful immersive experience for summer, and definitely deserves a place in any bookish beach bag!
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Bookshelf Fantasies 
I like the sound of this and the setting is intriguing.
I do love Groundhog Day type stories! This sounds like fun, and I’m glad it’s not all heavy emotional content.