Sandwich

Sandwich (2024) is American author Catherine Newman’s second novel. It follows the novel We All Want Impossible Things (2022) as well as the memoirs Catastrophic Happiness (2016) and Waiting for Birdy (2005). Additionally, Newman is the author of the middle grade novel One Mixed-Up Night (2017) and the best-selling “how-to” books for young readers How to Be a Person (2020) and What Can I Say? (2022). Sandwich chronicles a yearly, weeklong vacation to Cape Cod that the narrator, Rocky, takes with her husband, Nick, and their grown children, Willa and Jamie. A domestic drama, the novel focuses on the changing nature of family relationships as Rocky and Nick enter middle age, their children enter adulthood, and their parents become elderly. Newman is known for family-oriented writing that showcases the experience of women in families and features emotionally intelligent, self-reflective figures. Rocky character reflects these aspects of Newman’s work, and much of the novel unfolds through her interior monologues. Sandwich explores themes related to family dynamics, reproductive health, nostalgia, and the passage of time.

This guide refers to the 2024 hardcover edition by Harper Collins.

Content Warning: This guide discusses the source text’s depiction of pregnancy loss and anti-gay bias.

Plot Summary

Rocky and her family prepare for their yearly vacation to Cape Cod. They rented the same cottage each summer for more than 20 years, and Rocky is happy that the tradition continues even though their children are now adults and no longer live at home. This year, Rocky, Nick, Willa, and Jamie are accompanied by Jamie’s girlfriend, Maya, whom both Rocky and Nick like. The novel has seven parts, one for each day of the vacation. On the first day, the family shops for swimsuits after realizing that they inadvertently left their bag of swimwear and towels at home. Rocky reflects on the changing nature of adulthood and femininity: Both Willa and Maya are much more comfortable with their bodies than Rocky was at their age, and Rocky wishes that she’d been free to wear revealing clothing when she was a young woman.

The next day, Rocky and Nick bicker. Rocky blames the small disagreement on her perimenopausal hormones and tries her best to get along with her husband. She reflects on the many memories she and her family made over the years during these vacations and relishes how much easier it is to travel with adult children than to manage toddlers. She and Willa have an easy, close relationship, and their bond is evident. Maya is queasy and unusually sensitive to food, and Rocky wonders if she might be pregnant. Rocky reminisces about her own pregnancies and reflects on women’s health issues both in youth and middle age: Pregnancy and her “childbearing years” were hard on Rocky, but so is perimenopause.

On Monday, Rocky and Nick’s petty arguments continue. Nick easily moves on from these spats, and Rocky finds herself grateful for his patience. She enjoys Willa’s company, and they discuss a range of topics related to their past vacations, their lives, and women’s health. Although Rocky doesn’t share her suspicions, she becomes increasingly certain that Maya is pregnant. Maya confirms her suspicions early the next morning, when Rocky wakes to find her kneeling by the side of her bed. Maya tells Rocky that she’s in the early stages of pregnancy but hasn’t yet told Jamie. Rocky is calm and supportive as she tells Maya that whatever she decides to do will be the right decision.

Rocky further reflects on women’s reproductive health and bemoans the difficulties of middle age. In addition to hot flashes and emotional volatility, perimenopause’s physical changes render sex less pleasurable, and the medical options to treat this are costly. She also reflects on her past pregnancies, and the cryptic nature of her monologues begins to build suspense, foreshadowing long-buried family secrets that Rocky doesn’t seem ready to reveal.

In the middle of the week, small arguments continue between Rocky and Nick, and Rocky has upsetting dreams about children and childbirth. Although she’s grateful for Nick’s ability to forgive and forget, she reflects more thoroughly on his general aloofness: He has always been an emotionally hands-off partner and co-parent, and she feels that this has left her to bear most of the family’s emotional burden. While searching for Advil in the cottage’s bathroom, she and Willa find an old maxi pad, which Willa thinks is hilariously large. The item sets off a cascade of difficult memories for Rocky: Although she doesn’t tell Willa, she was pregnant at the cottage the summer that Willa was not yet one and Jamie was a toddler.

Rocky’s parents typically join the family for a two-day stay at the cottage, and their arrival the next morning sets off a flurry of activity. Although the mood is jovial, her parents are beginning to show their age, and Rocky finds their relationship increasingly difficult to navigate. When her father reveals that several of his family members were murdered at the Treblinka extermination camp during World War II, Rocky becomes visibly upset. Her father claims that this was always common family knowledge, but no one ever told Rocky, and she feels betrayed. She feels further betrayed by her father’s defiant attitude: He insists she must have known and scoffs at her for claiming she was “left out” of this important family history.

Against the backdrop of her parents’ quasi-stressful presence in the now-crowded cottage, Rocky remembers her pregnancy so many years ago. She was ambivalent upon discovering that she was going to be a mother again, already exhausted by parenting two young children at once. Nick, on the other hand, was elated, but she realized even then that this was because he left the bulk of the parenting to her. Still, her unexpected pregnancy loss left her grief-stricken. The loss cut her to the core, and she realizes that she never fully processed it.

At the beach, Rocky’s mother passes out and is taken to a nearby hospital. She’s diagnosed with dehydration and mild heat exhaustion, although she also reveals that she has been having heart trouble. Again, Rocky feels that her parents have kept critical information from her (this is the first she and Nick have heard about her mother’s heart issues). At the hospital, Rocky learns that Willa knows about Maya’s pregnancy, and the two discuss Maya specifically and pregnancy in general. Rocky tells Willa about her pregnancy loss, and Willa asks Rocky if that was the only other time she was pregnant. Cryptically, Rocky tells her daughter that she isn’t ready to have a conversation about that yet.

The family returns to the cottage, and Rocky’s parents reveal that Rocky’s mother must soon have a heart valve replaced. Maya continues to vomit regularly in the bathroom, and the mood is more somber. Rocky reveals to Willa that after her pregnancy loss, she got pregnant again but didn’t feel ready to have another child and had an abortion. She didn’t tell anyone, even Nick. As Rocky tells the story to Willa, she realizes that Nick is standing nearby and overheard. Rocky and Nick have a tense conversation, but Nick ultimately respects her decision and says he doesn’t hold it against her. Rocky’s parents leave the next day, and the vacation winds down. Although Rocky typically makes elaborate sandwiches for lunch, on the final day at the beach, the family orders takeout. Rocky reflects on the changing nature of parenting and family relationships as everyone ages, and the family shares one last trip to their favorite ice cream shop before heading home.

The Epilogue is set some months in the future and ends with Jamie and Maya’s wedding. Rocky’s mother has recently died, and although Rocky is still grieving, she’s happy to see her son married and grateful to experience life “fully.”