Service

Reviews / Votes

A book guaranteed to get people talking... a big topic requiring care, and Gilmartin tackles it with aplomb. . . both chewy and meaty fare, rare and well done -- John Self * Irish Times * The exhausting and exhilarating life of a high-end restaurant is beautifully recreated in this masterful novel . . . deeply satisfying . . . A writer correctly confident in her recipe -- Emma Healey * Irish Independent * This coolly furious dissection of sexual assault and its aftermath is as carefully constructed as anything served up in the Michelin-starred restaurant run by the chef whose alleged behaviour sets the novel in motion. . . compelling * Marie Claire * Addictive. . . a #MeToo story of power imbalances and blurred boundaries which will resonate with many * Red Magazine * A sharp, compelling drama * Good Housekeeping * In clean, clinical prose, Gilmartin lays bare both the power imbalances generated in a hothouse, hierarchical environment, and the schism between women's rights in the wake of MeToo and a country still in thrall to the old patriarchal order * Daily Mail * Absolutely compelling. Every page fizzes with energy and observation. Gilmartin combines effortless, elegant writing with a momentum that propels you onwards, barely pausing until you've reached the end. A masterful novel -- Rebecca Wait, author of I'm Sorry You Feel That Way One of the most darkly addictive novels you're likely to read this year. What begins as a delicious, scandalous glimpse behind the veil of a famous chef's ego and talent, like a fictionalised take on Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, becomes something much more sinister - and even more compelling. * Sunday Business Post * A powerful and compelling novel from a very gifted writer -- Joseph O'Connor, author of My Father's House and The Star of the Sea Sarah Gilmartin's second novel is consummately done. The prose is clean, crisp, perfectly-filleted; the pace and tension perfectly controlled, to the very last page. Superb. -- Lucy Caldwell, author of Intimacies The microculture of a high-end restaurant is lucidly observed: ferocious, minutely accurate, damning -- Ross Raisin, author of A Hunger and God's Own Country A brilliantly observed immersive novel which tells the 'me too' story from every angle -- Amber Medland, author of Wild Pets Sarah Gilmartin gives us a snapshot of a celebrity kitchen in that heady boom-time just before implosion, mining not just the egregious misogyny and violence in service culture, but the paralysis, the blind spots, and the silence that permitted it. . . Service is gripping, fearless and raw. I could not put it down. -- Una Mannion, author of A Crooked Tree Hooked by Daniel Costello's predatory charms, and then by a thirst for natural justice, I raced through Service. Sarah Gilmartin is a smart, stylish and darkly funny writer -- Aingeala Flannery, author of 'The Amusements' A hugely gripping literary page-turner. Sharp, visceral and shocking -- Claire Powell, author of At the Table I gorged on every page of Sarah Gilmartin's Service, a compelling and brilliant account of power dynamics and sexual politics in the heat of a Dublin kitchen. Her prose is as sharp as a chef's best knife, I couldn't look away. A Michelin star read -- Victoria Kennefick I love the high-octane setting of this novel, with its vivid portrayal of the heavy drinking, hard-living lifestyle of the staff who work in a celebrated restaurant. The story is skilfully told, teasing out the layers of truth and denial that give texture to a toxic history. In her deft handling of the differing interpretations her characters put on their experiences, Sarah Gilmartin gets it absolutely right -- Kathleen MacMahon, author of Women's Prize-longlisted Nothing But Blue Sky