At the Table

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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. 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. 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.

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?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. 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. 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 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.

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.The characters and their motivations were so criminally underdeveloped, I still don’t know why anyone did anything or what I was supposed to feel when they did it. For a novel that has virtually no plot, the characters should have been the focal point of the narrative; instead they were one-dimensional, unsympathetic, and just plain boring. 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. 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. This is the debut novel from Claire Powell and what an assured and excellently written debut it is. 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.