Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

White's engrossing novel tells the story of three seemingly disparate characters, Alice Stone, an African American girl growing up in Emancipation Township, North Carolina, whose life is torn apart by racism; Bobby Banks, a gay man from Decatur, Georgia, ostracized by his family and friends; and Amelia Brighton, a well-to-do Connecticut housewife whose life is turned upside down by her husband's infidelity and a mysterious family secret. As the novel unfolds, these three are drawn together at a tiny cafe in New York City. Inspired by the stories of chefs Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock, A Place at the Table is the story of troubled souls finding their way and making a place for themselves through the magic of the big city and a love of cooking. With unforgettable characters, rich detail, and seamless narration, White's new novel (after A Soft Place to Land, 2010) will long remain in the reader's mind and memory, a gentle reminder of the importance of acceptance in all its forms and the myriad connections that surround us.--Gladstein, Carol Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

White (A Soft Place to Land, 2010) was clearly inspired by the friendship of Atlanta chef Scott Peacock and Edna Lewis in this labored story about a young gay man who leaves Atlanta for Manhattan and is taken under the wing of a legendary African-American female chef. In 1929 rural North Carolina, 12-year-old Alice is separated from her beloved twin, James, when he is sent north after a lynching. Her consolation is cooking, and she grows up to be a world-famous chef. In 1970s suburban Atlanta, white middle-class teenager Bobby becomes an outcast in his conservative, Christian family once his sexual orientation is known. White's Atlanta is geographically correct--she loves to drop street names--but her descriptions lack any of the city's complexity during that decade. With a small inheritance from his understanding, saintly grandmother, Bobby heads to New York in 1981 and begins working as an assistant to owner Gus at Caf Andres, the restaurant Alice opened with Gus years earlier. She has since moved on to write a famous cookbook but agrees to attend a luncheon put together by Bobby. The lunch is a failure--Alice is cool and preoccupied while her agent, Kate, is interrupted by a visit from her niece Amelia, distraught over a marital crisis--but Bobby goes on to make a name for himself as chef at Caf Andres; unfortunately, the food descriptions sound like menu entries, lacking real passion or sensuality. Shortly after Bobby's longtime lover dies from AIDS in 1988, he runs into Alice again. She apologizes for her previous rudeness, and soon, they are inseparable; not only do they share a love of Southern cooking, but both have loved and lost Jewish men. In 1989, Kate's niece Amelia finally leaves her philandering husband, who happens to be from a well-heeled neighborhood of Atlanta. She moves to Manhattan and begins to uncover the predictable yet farfetched secret hidden within Alice's cookbook. Turgid prose pits ever so sensitive heroes and heroines against intolerant bullies.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.