At the Table

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Claire Powell is generous with her characters, and I felt equally pained for the betrayed character as the betrayer in two (maybe even three) scenarios, without feeling like the writer was making excuses for wrong actions. People just do shitty things because they're people, and I never really disliked anyone in this book despite the many mistakes most of them make. Oh to be a reader all the time instead being restricted to a single silly mind and body that has to feel feelings and take things personally. Set in 2018, Claire Powell's beautifully observed debut novel follows each member of the Maguire family over a tumultuous year of lunches, dinners and drinks, as old conflicts arise and relationships are re-evaluated. You know when you see a book and you know that you HAVE to read it? Well this one definitely caught my attention, just look at that cover. I have to say - it didn’t disappoint. Claire Powell’s writing has a warmth to it, a gentle kindness. A family in crisis, four equally flawed adults, you find yourself rooting for them all. Set in 2018, Claire Powell’s beautifully observed debut novel follows each member of the Maguire family over a tumultuous year of lunches, dinners and drinks, as old conflicts arise and relationships are re-evaluated. A gripping yet tender depiction of family dynamics, love and disillusionment, At the Table is about what it means to grow up – both as an individual, and as a family.

There was a half-hearted attempt to tie this saccharine story in a bow, but it ultimately fell so flat that I felt cheated.This novel is divided into seasons, which I loved as it paces the Novel really well. Each chapter revolves around eating/drinking hence the title "At the Table". This never felt repetitive and often felt like an easter egg when you realised where the "table" was within the chapter. It also made me realise how often we celebrate or commiserate over food. How food plays such a huge part in the milestones of our life. Painfully funny, acutely well-observed, powerfully resonant in its humanity and emotional accuracy. I missed this book whenever I wasn't reading it' Luke Kennard Set in 2018, Claire Powell's beautifully observed debut novel follows each member of the Maguire family over a tumultuous year of lunches, dinners and drinks, as old conflicts arise and relationships are re-evaluated. A gripping yet tender depiction of family dynamics, love and disillusionment, At the Table is about what it means to grow up - both as an individual, and as a family. I felt secondhand embarrassment reading the scenes between one character and his love interest, the attempt at flirtation actually pained me.

This is the debut novel from Claire Powell and what an assured and excellently written debut it is. Jeanie Masterson works at the family undertakers in a small town in Ireland. Like her father, she can hear the thoughts of the recently deceased and give voice to their final wishes and desires. But Jeanie is torn by the many obligations in her life, both to the dead and to the living. Her marriage is characterised by emotional compromise and she is full of regrets about the risks she dared not take in life. Griffin sensitively explores Jeanie’s struggle for self-fulfilment in an assured second novel. Hardworking – and hard-drinking – Nicole pursues the ex she unceremoniously dumped six years ago, while people-pleasing Jamie fears he’s sleepwalking into a marriage he doesn’t actually want. But as the siblings grapple with the pressures of thirtysomething life, their parents struggle to protect the fragile façade of their own relationship, and the secrets they’ve both been keeping.

Hobbies

A character explicitly tells one of the protagonists that he’s about to show her a video of his kid. As he pulls out his phone, the next sentence reads ‘She could tell immediately that it was a video of a child.’ Are we trying to hit word count here? Why on earth was this inane sentence necessary? At the Table is a debut novel focusing on characters and their interactions with one another. Though major life events take place, this novel focuses primarily on the little moments that make up the mosaic of our lives. Our focus is a family comprising Gerry and Linda and their grown-up children, Jamie and Nicole. Their lives have been marked by meals, and this focuses on a year in their lives at different moments. We start with a meal where the parents reveal they’re getting divorced and we end with a meal shared with mother and daughter who are, due to the events they’ve been through, forging a new relationship. Along the way we have celebratory meals, catch-up meals, drunken meals but our focus is always the family and their gradual discoveries about themselves and each other. The kind of rare story you want to nosedive into on a hot hungover weekend and slurp down like iced coffee - cold, sweet and quenching . . . a summer read to devour with suncream and spilt rosé - and then lend to your mum or your daughter' The Times

Hardworking - and hard-drinking - Nicole pursues the ex she unceremoniously dumped six years ago, while people-pleasing Jamie fears he's sleepwalking into a marriage he doesn't actually want. But as the siblings grapple with the pressures of thirtysomething life, their parents struggle to protect the fragile façade of their own relationship, and the secrets they've both been keeping. When Linda and Gerry Maguire announce their separation after decades of marriage, their thirtysomething children find the news difficult to digest. Nicole is a successful commercial director for a technology company but also a functioning alcoholic. Her brother, Jamie, is having second thoughts about his impending marriage and becomes obsessive about diet and exercise. Filled with razor-sharp dialogue and psychological acuity, At the Table is an astute debut novel about dysfunctional family life. The Joy of Science A brilliant portrayal of family dynamics in all their messy glory. Powell manages to make the Maguires wholly realistic. Right down to the main characters colleagues, friends, even the locations you could picture perfectly because (if you’re in the UK) there is always a pub in walking distance called The Crown. The simple details of everyday life are just spot on every time and you could feel the ups and downs and anxieties of each character. At the Table is a hugely intelligent, emotionally astute novel about family dynamics, and Claire Powell is an incredible new talent’ Marian Keyes Nicole and Jamie have struggles of their own. Both in their thirties, they are trying to navigate through the dynamics of careers, life and love. Nicole is hard-working but also likes to party. She’s on a permanent quest to find the right man, remaining furiously unsuccessful while her friends settle down around her. In contrast Jamie has been seeing his girlfriend Lucy for years and their wedding is inevitable and imminent- but is it what he really wants?

Creative Play

Powell paints a frank yet tender picture of people at their lowest. The events felt, on occasion, as if they were washing over me but I found myself touched by the attempts of the author to show the characters shifting and developing.