Too good to be true? The catch is that the bookshop gets to choose what the book group reads. Each month the discussion is lively and unpretentious, with naughty snacks and plenty to drink.

You don’t even have to have had read the book. The title to be read and discussed is sign-posted and on sale for the whole of the previous month (with a discount for those who make it known they intend to come) and everybody is welcome, whether first-timer, part-timer or regular-timer. With rare exceptions such as bank holidays, the book group meets on the first Wednesday of every month at 7.30pm. Now past its tenth year the Crow Book Group has grown into a regular social event. 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. 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.

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.īut 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. 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. To Nicole and Jamie Maguire, their parents seem the ideal couple – a suburban double act, happily married for more than thirty years.

Claire powell at the table