"At the Table" by Claire Powell follows 4 family members (parents and the two adult children) through four seasons of the year, and with each chapter the readers get to experience a different person's perspective on their personal lives, but also their lives and struggles within the family system.

What I found interesting and very clever, is using consumption of food or drinks as an important, sometimes a lot changing, element of the plot. We follow Linda, Gerry, Nicole and Jamie as they socialise, argue, fall apart and seek connections around kitchen tables, at the restaurants, bars and functions. It is such a great angle that helped me to immerse in the world created by Claire Powell, who shows a unique talent to turn a quite ordinary story into something truly engaging.

I read "At the Table" with great pleasure.

This was a really neat and relatable family novel. This would make a really good tv series.
Premise
To Nicole and Jamie Maguire, their parents seem the ideal couple - a suburban double act, happily married for more than thirty years. So when Linda and Gerry announce that they've decided to separate, the news sends shockwaves through the siblings' lives, forcing them to confront their own expectations and desires.

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.
I enjoyed getting to know the perfectly imperfect Maguire family and their relatable ness it was very funny, heartfelt, and I enjoyed this book very much.