Until Death
Published on 19. May 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
508 pages
978-0-316-60807-7 (ISBN)
Description
"Say Yes to the Dress meets Rosemary's Baby" (Margie Sarsfield) in this fresh, darkly funny horror novel in which a woman finally agrees to marry the man of her mother’s dreams. . . only to discover that wedding planning will eat you alive.
If Ophelia Cohen learned one thing from her parents, it’s that getting married is a bad idea. But if she’s learning anything from her widowed mother’s dementia, it’s that dying alone is worse. So when she meets Luke—the man of her mother’s dreams—marriage suddenly doesn’t seem so crazy.
But none of Ophelia’s obsessive scrolling on wedding forums can prepare her for the nightmare of planning her own. Why is her mother-in-law going crazy over every detail? Why is Luke’s family so eager to host the wedding in their vineyard’s ancient chapel? And what exactly will Ophelia have to sacrifice if she and her mother both hope to survive her special day?
Shot through with wicked humor, pitch-black horror, and unexpected romance, Until Death is a deliciously dark and funny send-up of the wedding industrial complex—and a mother-daughter story unlike any you’ve read before.
"Recognizes the Gothic horror inherent to planning a wedding and creates from it a painfully incisive and genuinely haunting fever dream.” —Kay Chronister, author of The Bog Wife
“Completely unique, deeply unnerving, and deviously funny.” —Samantha Allen, author of Patricia Wants to Cuddle
“Grabbed me like a creeping vine and wouldn't let go." —Kerry Cullen, author of House of Beth
“Glistens with humor and horror. An electrifying and affecting debut.” —Samantha Hunt, author of The Seas
If Ophelia Cohen learned one thing from her parents, it’s that getting married is a bad idea. But if she’s learning anything from her widowed mother’s dementia, it’s that dying alone is worse. So when she meets Luke—the man of her mother’s dreams—marriage suddenly doesn’t seem so crazy.
But none of Ophelia’s obsessive scrolling on wedding forums can prepare her for the nightmare of planning her own. Why is her mother-in-law going crazy over every detail? Why is Luke’s family so eager to host the wedding in their vineyard’s ancient chapel? And what exactly will Ophelia have to sacrifice if she and her mother both hope to survive her special day?
Shot through with wicked humor, pitch-black horror, and unexpected romance, Until Death is a deliciously dark and funny send-up of the wedding industrial complex—and a mother-daughter story unlike any you’ve read before.
"Recognizes the Gothic horror inherent to planning a wedding and creates from it a painfully incisive and genuinely haunting fever dream.” —Kay Chronister, author of The Bog Wife
“Completely unique, deeply unnerving, and deviously funny.” —Samantha Allen, author of Patricia Wants to Cuddle
“Grabbed me like a creeping vine and wouldn't let go." —Kerry Cullen, author of House of Beth
“Glistens with humor and horror. An electrifying and affecting debut.” —Samantha Hunt, author of The Seas
More details
Edition
Large type / large print edition
Language
English
Edition type
Large type / large print edition
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
508 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-316-60807-7 (9780316608077)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Mary Berman is a Philadelphia-based writer. She earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of Mississippi, where she was a Graduate Excellence Fellow, and she also holds a BA in writing seminars from Johns Hopkins University. Her short works have been published in Cicada,PseudoPod, Fireside Magazine, and elsewhere. Until Death is her debut novel.