At the Table is an excellent debut novel, beautifully written by Claire Powell. Set over a year — each chapter of this character-driven, family drama revolves around a meal or drinks. The character development in particular is excellent — we get to know the four members of the Maguire family (warts and all), their family dynamics and relationships with each other (and others). Overall, a really enjoyable, immersive read.

A slow-burner of a story, beautifully written with some elegant turns of phrase - and a terrific cover. Linda and Gerry Maguire (yes, Gerry Maguire) are splitting up after over thirty years of marriage. Their adult children - hard-working, hard-drinking Nicole, and people-pleaser Jamie - are more destabilised by this than they thought they would be. Both are traumatised by the experience of being adult children of divorce, particularly when none of their peer group are in the same boat. Jamie is about to get married to Lucy, but feels like something is wrong and resorts to extreme measures of diet and exercise to feel in control of his life. However, this is really Nicole's story, as she tries to reconnect with her ex while boozing her way through London.

I really enjoyed this book about a family slowly unravelling and denying the depths and truth of their fears and inability to manage these. The parents separate, but why? The adult daughter drinks too much and makes inappropriate choices, buy why? The adult son is stuck in a nice relationship with a nice woman, and is not happy. All of these characters are easy to relate to or to empathise with. The honesty of each person’s situation and dilemma, which is slowly revealed as the story unfolds means the reader is fully invested in wishing for the truth to be revealed, and for the characters to face up to their challenges, and change their lives Excellently realistic.

I loved this dysfunctional, but endearing family, I hope we get to see more of the Maguire’s. I really enjoyed how we saw the characters come together and dealt with all of the family drama! It gave an insight to their dynamics. I found that I wanted to know more about all aspects of their lives, tho my favourite was Jamie! Such a sweetheart ❤️. This is a fantastic debut, I love the authors writing style and I’m looking forward to reading her future work. I also need to shout out the front cover! How fantastic! But also a waste of cake