Reviewed by Melissa Gallerani
A Solo Honeymoon: A Brief Beautiful True Love Story (Dutton; July 2026) written by Laura Murphy with Bret Witter, is the story of the sudden death of Murphy’s fiancé, and her decision to go on their honeymoon alone in the midst of her intense grief.
Murphy starts the book in media res; already on her honeymoon, explaining how she ended up in Europe alone. What follows are two parallel stories: the past story of Murphy’s life with her late fiancé Devon, and the present story of what happens when she goes on her European honeymoon alone.
Murphy moves back and forth between these two timelines, but it feels natural and is not jarring.
Like the TikToks that initially publicized her story, Murphy addresses the audience during her narration. This meta experience happens a few times, as Murphy acknowledges that she resents the audience at times for making her relive some of the worst moments of her life, and that she was also trying to keep some of her relationship sacred. She details how she would have told an anecdote, versus how her late fiancé would have, a prime example being the story of their engagement. It’s also apparent where Murphy leaves details out to protect the privacy of other family members.
All of these different taboos in writing (directly calling out what’s not there, addressing the reader) do not make for a bad read, and indeed help the narrative. Murphy wanted to share her fiancé and their love story with the world, and the form that she chose mirrors how one of her TikToks: acknowledging an invisible audience while sharing her story.
As she travels from London to the South of France to Italy, Murphy details her process both of grieving and writing the book. She talks with her mother in law, corroborates details with eye witnesses, and readily admits to what she can’t remember and had to verify later. Most authors hide the work needed to write a book, but exposing the nuts and bolts required to craft a personal narrative creates an authentic portrayal of grief and how a story develops. Murphy concedes that she might have never written a book otherwise, as she says in her dedication, “For Devon. You always wanted me to write a book. It shouldn’t have happened this way.”
Interspersed with the love story of Murphy and her fiancé is a love story of a different kind, one of their home province of Newfoundland. I’ve never been an outdoor girl myself, but Murphy writes about Newfoundland and its landscape and coastline with such affection that I can understand why someone would want to spend a lifetime on its shores. Newfoundland is central to their relationship; not only is it their physical home, but also it represents the life that Murphy had built. Before her fiancé’s death, Murphy would have been perfectly content to continue living as she had been. Now, “step by step, I’m embracing life as it is now,” as she rebuilds her life and her future.
I don’t normally cry at books, but I could barely hold in my tears by the end. This is not to say that A Solo Honeymoon is sad – it is, but the love that Laura felt for Devon can be felt through the page. “I’m trying,” Murphy writes, “trying to write a book about love.” She succeeded.
Marissa Gallerani is a queer and disabled writer and teacher living in Providence, Rhode Island. She received her MFA from The Newport MFA at Salve Regina, and has taught at multiple institutions of higher education including the New England Institute of Technology, Salve Regina University, and Write or Die. She has been published in The Harvard Review Online, the public’s radio, and The Financial Diet, among others. Marissa’s Substack, The Chaotic Reader, details her wide-ranging reading adventures. A life-long SFF fan, Marissa is currently at work on a science fantasy novel.
