Red Hook Road by Ayelet Waldman

This book could be titled "Those That Were left Behind". The opening chapter is about the weddning of John and Becca. Neither family is all that pleased with their offspring. Becca has dropped out of a music conservatory to return to Maine, and John is a man who works better with his hands than with books. He works in a ship yard and is lovingly--and expensively--restoring a yacht. Becca's family is from Manhattan and John's is from where Becca's family summers in Maine. Her family mourn her dropping a career and his wish he had fell for someone more like them. But a marriage made of poor choices (ie. love over all else) is the least of these family's problems. En route to the reception, the bride and groom are killed in a car accident. The really hard part is having a shared history that you haven't even gotten a chance to get over your bad feelings about. The two mothers, Iris and Jane, had a working relationship. Jane cleaned Iris's house. The awkwardness of their children marrying did not help them in their grief after their deaths. The two younger siblings who are left behind also have to find their own ways. They are the most interesting characters in the book. So it is a story of how to move on, and the many odd directions that moving on can take. The writing is crisp and clear. It rings true, and there is an attentio to social detail that is rare. This is not a particularly sad book, given it's main events--but there is the underlying element of tragedy that pervades the lives of those who are left behind.