Emma’s Table

From the moment Emma Sutton walks into the esteemed Fitzcoopers auction house, the one-time media darling knows exactly what she wants: an exquisite antique dining table. What she doesn’t realize is what she’s finally getting: the chance to set things right.

Fresh from a year-long stretch in prison and the media blood-letting that accompanied her fall, Emma needs a clean start. She finds her life just as she left it, filled with glittering business successes and bruising personal defeats – the rolling television cameras and chauffeured limousines, the awkward Sunday dinners at home. Deep down, she knows she needs to find a better way, but she can’t imagine what it might be.

Enter Benjamin, a terminally charming social worker, who moonlights for Emma on the weekends, and Gracie, an overweight third-grader who’s one of his wards. The unlikely trio is surrounded by an eclectic supporting cast – a tiny Japanese diplomat, a bossy yoga teacher, Emma’s prodigal ex-husband and daughter – who are all drawn together by the dynamic woman at the novel’s center. Through the subtle power of his telling prose, Philip Galanes transforms this Park Avenue morality tale into a thoroughly winning, surprisingly moving tour de force.

From the moment Emma Sutton walks into the esteemed Fitzcoopers auction house, the one-time media darling knows exactly what she wants: an exquisite antique dining table. What she doesn’t realize is what she’s finally getting: the chance to set things right.

Fresh from a year-long stretch in prison and the media blood-letting that accompanied her fall, Emma needs a clean start. She finds her life just as she left it, filled with glittering business successes and bruising personal defeats – the rolling television cameras and chauffeured limousines, the awkward Sunday dinners at home. Deep down, she knows she needs to find a better way, but she can’t imagine what it might be.

Enter Benjamin, a terminally charming social worker, who moonlights for Emma on the weekends, and Gracie, an overweight third-grader who’s one of his wards. The unlikely trio is surrounded by an eclectic supporting cast – a tiny Japanese diplomat, a bossy yoga teacher, Emma’s prodigal ex-husband and daughter – who are all drawn together by the dynamic woman at the novel’s center. Through the subtle power of his telling prose, Philip Galanes transforms this Park Avenue morality tale into a thoroughly winning, surprisingly moving tour de force.

PRAISE

  • "'Emma's Table' serves up a...filling feast...This character cooks with both spice and comedy…[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..."
    - USA TODAY
    JULY 31, 2008
  • REVIEW
    - NEWSDAY
    AUGUST 31, 2008
  • "Mr. Galanes, in this unlikely act of empathetic imagining, has created a heroine not only capable of but also deserving of kindness."
    - THE NEW YORK SUN
    JULY 28, 2008
  • "This summer's delicious read!"
    - VOGUE
    AUGUST, 2008
  • HOT TYPE: "Philip Galanes sets EMMA'S TABLE ."
    - VANITY FAIR
    AUGUST, 2008
  • ESSAY "This One's For Martha"
    - HUFFINGTON POST
    AUGUST 4, 2008
  • INTERVIEW "Author Philip Galanes Finds Writing a Form of Therapy"
    - REUTERS
    JULY 24, 2008
  • BOOK RELEASE FEATURE IN ELLE DECOR
    - ELLE DECOR
    October, 2008
  • MEMO PAD
    - WOMEN'S WEAR DAILY
    JULY 30, 2008
  • REVIEW
    - OK! MAGAZINE
    AUGUST 11, 2008
  • REVIEW
    - THE EAST HAMPTON STAR
    October 30, 2008
  • INTERVIEW
    - DAN'S PAPERS
    AUGUST 1, 2008
  • INTERVIEW
    - HAMPTONS COTTAGES AND GARDENS
    AUGUST 1, 2008
  • Philp has appeared on several television and radio shows to discuss Emma's Table, including Joan Hamburg radio show, Steven Gaines radio show, and Plum TV.

    "EMMA'S TABLE is a marvel: a whip-smart juggling act, as light as meringue, with a perfectly tender heart. It's a sharply-written story of the forgiveness we need to give and receive to let love into our lives, and its touching spell lasts long after the final page."
    - Ayelet Waldman, author of LOVE AND OTHER IMPOSSIBLE PURSUITS
  • "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, best-selling author of LITTLE CHILDREN and THE ABSTINENCE TEACHER
  • "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, best-selling author of THE MANNY