At the Table: a Times and Sunday Times Book of the Year

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The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. 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 facade of their own relationship, and the secrets they've both been keeping. At the Table did for me what I hoped Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections would (although I read that a good 10 years ago so probably shouldn't judge. I really enjoyed this book and it was exactly what I needed, an easy read / a good gripping distraction.Compelling, immersive and often relatable, this is a book (and a family) you won’t forget in a hurry. I was intrigued by the gaps in the story, and enjoyed getting to piece together what really did go on from what is gleaned through the next chapter.

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. this was easy enough to read and has some excellent isolated scenes (particularly love the blow job in the office! Laika, the youngest, retreats into a contactless digital life, designing the trading algorithms that will ultimately prove his downfall in a condo near Wall Street.Nicole starts to revisit in her mind an old relationship that ended badly, and begins to rely on alcohol more and more to get through the day. I think Powell has done a stellar job of portraying your average family dynamics; for the Maguires, it becomes obvious that so much has been left unsaid by all four of them, leading to misunderstandings and resentments building up.