At the Table

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My favourite character award definitely goes to Jamie; I could read another whole book from his POV. His storyline was excellent, well written and how the writer describes anxiety and depression felt so personal and true to life. Set over a year this is an intensely intimate glimpse into all of their lives. I laughed, I cried, I cringed, I gasped. This is such a real portrayal of family life, warts and all, that it took my breath away with its accuracy. I could have kept on reading about this family for a long, long time.

This is the debut novel from Claire Powell and what an assured and excellently written debut it is.

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I absolutely devoured this novel. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. A well written, interesting and great paced story which explores a number of important issues such as post natal depression, anxiety, generational trauma & alcoholism. A gripping yet tender depiction of family dynamics, love and disillusionment about what it means to grow up - both as an individual and as a family. 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? 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? 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

At the Table is a hugely intelligent, emotionally astute novel about family dynamics, and Claire Powell is an incredible new talent’ Marian Keyes Gerry's character is also from the same town in Northern Ireland as me, which I was so excited to see represented, that may have played a little part in my overall enjoyment of this novel!

Christmas Cards & Gift Wrap

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. The quantum physicist and BBC presenter invites readers to adopt a scientific approach to modern living. Asking how we might navigate our way through misinformation and conflicting statistics, he proposes that thinking more scientifically can aid our ability to steer a course through truth and uncertainty, doubt, bias and decision-making. Engaging and illuminating, al-Khalili argues that a scientific approach is “one of humankind’s great riches and the birthright of everyone”. Listening Still 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.

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 Maguire function are dysfunctional, but only in a way most families will find relatable. I found it poignant seeing them come together after being torn apart by their personal dramas, and Powell's choice to leave out sections ended up creating a moving sense of intimacy between them. As readers we go from being zoomed into the individual characters' minds and lives and then suddenly being shut out when their situation comes to a head. Painfully realistic, this frank but tender portrayal of people at their lowest is a book everyone can relate to. And the cover is just, all the YES. I can’t wait to see what Claire Powell does next. Set over the course of a year, At The Table gives you more than you asked for. I was expecting an easy read with funny parts here and there and instead it was like having an inside look into someone’s home. The Maguires could be your friends or neighbours, that is how crystal the writing is. And although there are funny sections in the book, the emotional grounding far surpasses what I expected. The way that Powell navigates heartache, depression, anxiety, and just not really knowing what your next step in life is, is truly exceptional. 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.

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A year of lunches, dinners and drinks we become acquainted with the Maguires, Powell’s witty, smartly observed prose gives us a sense of them all. A 2022 BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR for THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH, RED, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING AND CRITIC 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.