From Publishers Weekly
In this solid ripped-from-the-headlines effort from Galanes (
Father's Day), Emma Sutton—once an Oprah-featured interior design queen, now a newly released convicted tax felon—is determined to regain her balance, personally and professionally. Yet she soon resorts to mild fraud at an auction, proving old habits die hard. Confrontations with her ex-husband (who wants to try again) and her adult daughter (a mass of insecurities and vices) lead to guilt and shame. Meanwhile, Emma's weekend assistant, Benjamin Blackman, is not coping very well with his girlfriend or with his day job as an elementary school social worker. There a troubled, overweight third grader, Gracie Santiago, is losing ground fast, despite her mother's efforts. When Emma decides that she has brought her woes upon herself and can get rid of them the same way, the story lines collide neatly. Galanes's thoughtful, placid novel is overpopulated given the scarcity of plot, but the mother-daughter relationships hold it together.
(Aug.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Review
"Sophisticated, witty, and fun, Emma's Table had me hooked from the first page, and smiling through the very last. Philip Galanes serves up a pitch-perfect comedy of manners with a deft and elegant touch." (Holly Peterson, author of The Manny )
"Emma's Table is a marvel: a whip-smart juggling act, as light as meringue, with a perfectly tender heart." (Ayelet Waldman, author of Love and Other Impossible Pursuits )
"In other hands, a novel about a fictionalized Martha Stewart would be an occasion for a hatchet job. But Mr. Galanes...has created a heroine not only capable of but also deserving of kindness" (New York Sun )
"This summer's delicious read." (Vogue )
"[Galanes has a] gift for telling detail, rueful but compassionate insight and effortless imagery." (Kirkus Reviews )
"Emma's Table is a charming urban fairy tale about characters who actually learn from their mistakes. Philip Galanes has written a sweet, sly comedy of manners with an oddly familiar and slightly notorious figure at its center." (Tom Perrotta, author of The Abstinence Teacher and Little Children )
"Delicious.. [A] touchingly bittersweet comedy of modern urban existence.. Anyone who can build nail-biting suspense out of a Sunday dinner gone horribly wrong is deserving of praise." (Susan Wloszczyna, USA Today )
