I just love Ireland - the scenery, the people, the landscapes, the pubs… and also reading Irish authors, and books set in the Emerald Isle.

Service is about Daniel: a famed chef in Dublin, who is accused of sexual assault from previous employees. The book is told from three perspectives: Hannah, a former employee; Daniel; and his wife, Julie.

The setting of a restaurant, and what goes on behind the scenes, was amazing! I love dining out, and always want to peak what’s behind the curtain. I’m sure many would relate to the toxic environment and demands of the service industry.

I think this is a good book club pick - there is lots of things I would love to discuss with others: the similarities (and differences) between Hannah and Julie, if you think Dan is innocent or guilty (and if this changes over the story), and the ending.

The writing and pace of the story hooked me from the first page, and kept me engrossed throughout.

I would definitely read more from this author. Thank you to @pushkin_press and @netgalley for the ARC copy 💚

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

An ambitious vision of topic to highlight: sexual assault in the kitchen scene, trials and public opinions as well as dilemma & turmoil that a wife faced as husband is charged with violation against women. I feel like the story were developing & walking into a direction that we end up never see or hear; the ending felt like it was cut short. Why would it be just.. that? That's the only reaction & last option that the key characters take and only on the last 10 pages of the book? The story & discussion would both be stronger if the author were braver & more decisive with their voice & the theme-plot they're trying to brought here. In the end, it become forgettable even though the reading experience gets me going. After putting it down, it doesn't stay with me.

I feel like this really has potential to be so much more and perhaps so important but then it falls short & don't deliver that, like it was abruptly cut. Maybe my expectations & what I know could become of this book also affected my post-reading experience.

Thank you to NetGalley & publisher for lending me this ARC in exchange for a review!

When a famous Dublin chef is accused of sexual assault, Hannah is forced to reflect on the summer she spent working in the high-end restaurant. As the court date looms, Service follows three narratives - Hannah, the accused chef Daniel, and Julie, his wife.

This was such a brilliant, evocative and impressive read. The three distinct narratives worked incredibly well. Hannah was a sympathetic and realistic character as she thought back to that summer and what she did and didn’t do. Daniel’s repulsive and unrepentant inner monologue was uncomfortable to read. Julie’s perspective was particularly interesting and nuanced as she tries to protect her sons and her life, while contemplating whether to support her husband. A particularly memorable bit is when she remarks that she often asked how did she not know her husband was involved with other women when the real question is how did she not know that her husband was a predator.

It’s such a well-written, accomplished novel. I highly recommend it.

A searing and topical read with themes of MeToo in a high-quality restaurant setting. A Michelin-starred chef facing rape allegations from ten years in Ireland. The story is narrated by three characters:
- Daniel is the fifty-something year old chef facing rape charges and currently on trial, his restaurant closed.
- Julie is Daniel’s wife, bearing the brunt of her husband’s infamy and trying to keep it together for her two sons.
- Hannah who is in her 30s but only 20-years old when she started working for Daniel and still dealing with her trauma.
This is a character driven read with the high-end restaurant vividly brought to life by Gilmartin: the fast pace, the tension in the kitchen and arrogance and anger of the chef. The food is fantastically described and the characters feel real. Gilmartin does a great job of not turning her characters, especially Daniel, into a caricature. My only gripe was the ending. It felt like it ended too soon and I wanted to see the fallout of the action. I didn’t understand why Daniel was so fixated by Hannah and why her action makes him react the way he does. However this was a stellar read.

This ebook ARC was provided by NetGalley and Pushkin Press in exchange for a free and honest review.

This was a very good read. The author has a talent for capturing toxic work environment; where something happens and you are polite to get past the shame and awkwardness. In addition, the descriptions of Hannah's trauma and Julie's retrospection were very vivid. The story has three protagonists; David, a chef was brought up during the times of a man is always right and acts accordingly (he is a misogynist and a bully). His wife Julie has always been complacent giving excuses to have a peaceful life until she cannot ignore things anymore when her children start to suffer. Then there is Hannah, a young university student working in the restaurant during a break in classes. Her naiveté is used against her and she is left scared from this incident.

I think that this book should be read widely to encourage people to: identify toxic work environments, to speak up and educate people on what can be considered sexual harassment or sexual assault.

Please look up trigger warnings if you need to before reading this book. There are very heavy topics discussed and explored but I thought they were handled well.
At times it was difficult to read as we are seeing how the sexual assault court case effects the victims, the accused and the wife/family of the accused.
Having the three perspectives was really effective in showing all different perspectives and portrayed a realistic idea of how this would impact everyone involved.
I liked the writing style and the overall direction the novel took. I would definitely read more from this author and I'd recommend this book if you can handle the heavy topics.

Since reading Sweetbitter I haven’t loved a book about the gritty underbelly of the service industry quite the same until I read Service.

Gilmartin nailed this industry, the people amongst it, the messiness, sexiness, the drama, but made it literary and the writing was bang on.

Loved it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for this ARC of ‘Service’ by Sarah Gilmartin.

This book was so powerful and incredibly well written. I’m truly at a loss for words despite finishing this book just over a week ago. It’s inspiring and a must read for everyone in my opinion.

A stunning sophomore novel. i was intrigued by the setting as my partner is a chef, and i've always harboured this sickly-bitter fascination with the culinary world— all its deliciousness and poison: when does a chef know they are a chef? when you want people to taste your food. I thoroughly enjoyed the three POVs: the endearing hannah, the pained julie and of course, the egomaniac chef daniel. each voice is distinct with their perspective of the industry: the money you could spend on food, the fame you retain with food, and the torture you could withstand with food. i also appreciate the lens into the irish social culture and systems in regards to sexual harassment and rape. it is an important marriage of culinary megalomania and rape culture.

trigger warnings: sexual harassment, explicit depictions of rape and sexual harassment, court appearances, rape denial, complicit actions, inappropriate workplace interaction, rape denial, service industry abuse, spousal sexual harassment and rape, verbal abuse, physical abuse, emotional manipulation, emotional abuse

Wow. This took my breath away with such exceptional crafting of the characters.

This novel is told from three perspectives: a talented, self-obsessed celebrity chef; a waitress he assaulted and his wife. Throughout the novel their perspectives are weaved through the story of a SA trial in Ireland against this chef, Daniel. The way in which Gilmartin wrote this man gave me chills. We’ve all met men like this; so exceptionally self-involved, misogynistic and dangerously ambitious.

Gilmartin addresses all the ramifications of SA, privilege, power dynamics, and the shortcomings of the legal system in such a delicate and masterful way. It made me feel incredibly seen as a woman. The perspectives of Hannah, the waitress, and Daniel’s wife, Julie, showed the damning effects these kind of men can leave in their wake - oblivious to the harm they’ve caused.

The writing is beautiful and the plot intricate but the content is very hard at times. A book I will highly recommend to all who will listen.

Set in Dublin, this book goes back and forth between Hannah’s time working at restaurant T and the present time, where her old boss is being tried for rape. It’s unrealistic in that this kind of trial wouldn’t happen in Ireland.

The characters are wonderful. I relate to them all, the Irishness portrayed by this author is also wonderful. At times I found myself believing Dan and hating myself for it !

Important subject matter and fabulously written.

Service delves into the intricate lives of a waitress, a chef, and his wife, each entwined in a web of secrets and revelations. Set against the backdrop of a high-end Dublin restaurant, the narrative unfolds with palpable tension and complexity. Gilmartin skillfully navigates themes of power, abuse, and the masks we wear in society. The characters’ voices resonate authentically, drawing readers into their conflicting emotions and moral dilemmas. While the pacing occasionally falters, the overall impact is profound. Service earns a solid 4/5, offering a compelling exploration of truth and consequences in the face of scandal.

This is a very well-written book that tells a compelling story centered around three nuanced characters. The narrative successfully shifts between the perspectives of the three characters, each as intriguing and fleshed out as the others. This choice works very well, adding considerable depth to a timely story and delivering something fresh, even as the plot explores a topic — sexual assault and the MeToo era — written many times over. The backdrop of the restaurant lends a memorable setting that the author evokes vividly. The dialogue is organic yet intentional. The many pieces of the story feed off one another to produce a whole that works.

Fabulous writing and an importatnt story. I think this was just as good as I hoped it would be and this book will be well receieved.

A great novel all around! Service has well developed characters, great pacing, and a unique storyline. It bounces around three different perspectives - the accused rapist on trial, a renowned celebrity chef in Dublin, the accused’s wife, Julia, and a victim who worked at said chef’s resturant, Hannah. The fact that you read from each of their perspectives brings a deeper level of empathy for the girls and women involved and the chef’s family as they navigate the public trial and conflicted feelings toward their father/husband. It also gives readers an interesting look into toxic restaurant culture, its underlying sexism, and the world of “acting” or “performing” in a way for tips/their livelihood.

This would be a good book for my older students, esp as they are entering the work world. Told in three points of view, a young woman who worked as a waitress in a famous restaurant, the celebrity chef on trial for rape and his wife. Lots to talk about, esp the long term damage of sexual assalt

Thank you to @netgalley and @pushkin_press for the opportunity to read this eARC.

Set in Dublin in the midst of a sexual assault case involving a famous chef in a high end restaurant, this novel drops you right in it.

I have been in a bit of a slump, or maybe just a busy period in my life, and have found it hard to concentrate on anything but this book caught my attention immediately. It has three POVs and develops in such a compulsive way.

To me, this feel like a cross between John Boyne’s Earth and Kitchen Confidential. I loved the little scenes of work at a busy restaurant spread throughout all the discourse on sexual assault and the different views between the accused, the victim and the accused’s wife.

I’m fully aware that my review isn’t the most coherent. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, the subject matter is dealt with in a sensitive manner while not shying away from the trauma and the writing is great.

Would highly recommend to anyone once they’re aware of the triggers and the subject matter

Ireland, then and now: *Then*, Hannah is a waitress at an upscale restaurant in Dublin, Daniel its celebrated chef, and Julie his supportive wife. *Now*, Hannah has distanced herself and her memories as much as she can from her time at the restaurant, Daniel is on trial, and Julie is struggling to figure out what she believes happened—or didn't happen—and how much she can give up, can block out, in order to stand by her man.

I read this on the strength of the publisher, GR friends' reviews, and, if I'm honest, the cover. The book cycles through the three perspectives—Hannah's, Daniel's, and Julie's—and though the book gets off to a relatively slow start, it's smartly written. Gilmartin is careful in her layering of Daniel's character in particular: it's not a matter of a 'there's no black and white', exactly (what happens is not in shades of grey), but he's never allowed to become one-dimensional. I did not enjoy either Daniel or the sections in his POV, but they were invaluable in keeping the story a complex read.

It is worth reading both the author's note at the end and the discussion questions; the latter have a few too many yes-or-no questions for my liking, but they frame some things differently than I would have gone for, which is always useful. I'll keep my review short—there are things I'd love to discuss with people who have read it but don't want to put in a review for fear of spoilers!—but the book has made to want to hunt up Gilmartin's first novel and keep an eye out for future works.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

I loved this book -- it is not an easy read due to the subject matter, but the writing is so good that I was completely engaged and really loved it.

Daniel has been accused of rape by a former restaurant employee, and this book shows him grappling with that while going through a trial. Julie has been married to Daniel for years and they have two sons. Hannah is a different former employee who had her own experiences with Daniel. The narrative is split between these three perspectives. One aspect I loved is that Julie's sections are directed right to Daniel, not the reader.

The split narrative made this book move very quickly. Most of Hannah's part are told in the past, the time that she was working for Daniel at a restaurant. The food writing and the restaurant atmosphere are captured so well. The writing is so lovely -- I could feel each character's experiences and each voice was so unique.

I loved reading Hannah's sections -- her excitement about the world was depicted so well and reminded me so much of being in my early 20s. Julie's sections were hard to read knowing about the allegations against Daniel -- I loved how well it showed the ability to have contradicting feelings about your spouse. Daniel's sections for me were the hardest, he had such an arrogant demeanor ooze off him.

Sarah Gilmartin does a very good job of showing how rape accusations impact the entire family, and community. This is a hard subject written with such care.

This is the first book I've read by Sarah Gilmartin and I am eager to read more! I am excited to see what she writes next.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

A very insightful book told in my favourite voice, an Irish one. Deals with topics that are uncomfortable, but ones we should all be speaking about. It was a good take on the increasing number of books about historical abuse cases, the restaurant/service industry was fairly new setting to tackle this and I really enjoyed the look in that sector. A powerful and thought provoking solid three stars