There is a loneliness that comes with separation and divorce — a grief that is hard to explain. It’s something that Sophie, Standing There by Meg Mason covers, and it’s no wonder it’s the October 2026 pick of the month for Reese Witherspoon’s book club.
If there is anyone who understands that type of grief, it’s Witherspoon, who went through a rather public divorce from Ryan Phillippe. When sharing the novel as her book club’s pick, she noted that Sophie, Standing There is “a funny and tender story about loneliness, connection, and finding your way back to yourself.”
The story follows Sophie Pattison, a woman who adores books. She also loves her husband, and believes that he adores her, has a best friend for life, and a brother she is close to. On top of that, she has her dream job, but then her life comes crashing down around her.
As we meet her, we learn that her husband has left her. He didn’t even give her the courtesy of a discussion. He wanted her out of the house; the end of everything she once held dear was gone. And then we learn more, as that grief affects everything around her. All her relationships and her dream job feel a million miles away, and the only hope is rediscovering an author she read in her 20s.
Courtesy of HarperCollinsRelationships are complex. They take work to nurture, but they should also be fun and feel effortless. It’s a hard balance to find, and Mason captures the heartache and dark humor of all the complexity within life. It’s a beautiful piece of literary fiction, focusing on the power of human connection. What happens when people really see us for who we are?
Sophie, Standing There was originally published in August 2026. While it’s possibly not the scary story that many people expected for an October release, there is a horror element within it. After all, grief brings its own stories of fear and uncertainty, and it’s something so innately human that we can all appreciate it.
At first, the novel of a sad woman doesn’t sound appealing. Mason has a way of bringing humor to the story. She can get inside the heads of each of her characters in a way so many other authors fail to do, and you’ll start to wonder if Sophie is you at times.
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