The Dinner List
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley September 27, 2018
Author Rebecca Serle
Distributor: Allen and Unwin
ISBN: 9781760528058
Publisher: Atlantic
Release Date: September 2018
Website: https://www.allenandunwin.com
What would you do if the people you most wanted to have dinner with when you were in University actually turned up at a dinner hosted for you by your still best friend on your 30th birthday?
After the shock wore off Sabrina has to take stock; Yes that was Audrey Hepburn looking a little peeved as she was being kept waiting for dinner, her long dead father Robert is sitting there right next to Audrey, her friend Jessica is also there with the guests, very much alive and spearing choice morsels off Sabrina plate, something she has always done.
In this reflective and wistful work, Rebecca Searle takes a long look at what really is important in a person’s life as they too grow up, adapt to change and learn to move on into tomorrow.
Over dinner and as the wine flows she begins to realise that these people, four of whom are dead, have all had a major impact on her life and that being there at this time is not just a coincidence, it is something that has been in the planning for many years.
Tobias her one and only true love, dead only a short time, has not yet found peace in his new life, the same peace and acceptance as has Audrey and Robert. Her much admired University Professor of Philosophy Conrad, has designs on Audrey Hepburn and as the night slowly draws on, becomes somewhat interesting!
But also as the night continues, Sabrina begin to realise that it really is about her learning to accept life’s realities without trying to fix them, something she has always tried to do, something that has held her back from moving on. She also realises that somewhere inside that strange, wonderful and totally quirky friend of hers, Jessica Bedi, there is a woman who truly believes in magic and considers “Anything is possible.”
As each of the guests departs Tobias is the last to leave, the last to finally answer a question that is all important to Sabrina, ‘Why were you there that day?’
A beautiful, poignant look at friendship, love, acceptance, family and moving on!