Description

Kate has taught herself to be careful, to be meticulous. To mark the anniversary of a death in the family, she plans a dinner party – from the fancy table settings to the perfect Baked Alaska waiting in the freezer. Yet by the end of the night, old tensions have flared, the guests have fled, and Kate is spinning out of control.

But all we have is ourselves, her father once said, all we have is family.

Set between the 1990s and the present day, from a farmhouse in Carlow to Trinity College, Dublin, Dinner Party is a dark, sharply observed debut that thrillingly unravels into family secrets and tragedy. As the past catches up with the present, Kate learns why, despite everything, we can’t help returning home.

Publisher Review

'Sarah Gilmartin is a natural writer: she gives us terrific, complex characters and strong themes, in prose that is fluent and charged with insight' - Anne Enright, Booker Prize-winning author of THE GATHERING 'Sarah Gilmartin's depiction of an Irish family across the decades leaves the reader in no doubt how complicated love can be. A brilliant debut' - John Boyne, bestselling author of THE HEART'S INVISIBLE FURIES 'The search is off - here is our next read. Here is an expert writer... Taut, compelling, Enright-esque' - Meg Mason, author of SORROW AND BLISS 'I loved her clean, forensic writing. Gilmartin is clearly a writer to watch' - Clare Chambers, author of Women's Prize Longlisted SMALL PLEASURES 'Astutely captures the claustrophobia of Irish families - disappointments, rivalry and the need to make everyone happy' - Sinead Gleeson, author of CONSTELLATIONS