Cassandra at the Wedding

Cassandra at the Wedding. By Dorothy Baker. 256 pages. According to New York Magazine, everyone is reading Cassandra at the Wedding. Based on the number of Goodreads ratings, this is not actually true1, which is a shame because it is quite good. Reissued by a few publishers since its initial publication in 1962, it has accumulated a quiet, durable reputation, the kind of book passed between friends rather than splashily promoted on bestseller lists. The novel follows twin sisters Cassandra and Judith Edwards over the weekend of Judith’s wedding. Cassandra, a graduate student at Berkeley, drives back to the family ranch in the California foothills with the half-formed intention of stopping the wedding. The narration alternates between Cassandra and Judith, but it’s Cassandra’s voice that dominates the narrative. Brilliant and acerbic simultaneously, it’s clear from the beginning that Cassandra is not a stable person when she reflects on the option of jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge:…