Reflections on Solitude: Insights from "Table for One" by Emma Gannon
- Awa
- 2 days ago
- 8 min read
When I started reading Table for One by Emma Gannon, at first, the story did not appeal to me ... The novel begins with a couple, Willow and Dom, co-founders of a creative company called Scatterbox, moving into their new flat in London, their successful middle-class life seemed too perfect for me; so I put the book down for months. When the summer holidays started: no more markings, nor deadlines; with fresh eyes, I read this big massive book and I absolutely loved it. I finished it on my first week of summer, to be completely honest, I do prefer "Table for One" more than "Success Myth" which I will write about in a separate blog. Actually this might become a new format I will pursue: writing about books. Now, let me tell you why I absolutely loved "Table for One"!
A Story Beyond Singlehood
Talking about style, I really enjoyed Emma Ganon’s way of writing in “Table for One”. I found that the novel was easy to read, easy to follow the plot of the story and above all, the Author did take me down Memory Lane. Indeed, not only there are a lot of references from the 1990s but Emma Gannon also mentions locations I am familiar with such as Brockley and Holland Park. Indeed, my son and I used to live in Forest Hill which is in the London Borough of Lewisham and Holland Park, which is the London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, where I used to go to school and hang out in the park and I remember being very fond of the squirrels, too.
In this novel, there are three main female characters that I would like to focus on: Willow, the main character; Carla, Willow’s aunt and Naz Chopra, an Instagram influencer. Willow grew up with her aunt and many friends with whom she has developed positive relationships. And despite the appearance of having it all, one has a tendency to look at what we don’t have. I don’t think it is because we are ungrateful, as I am writing this I hear Michael Jackson singing: “Tell them it’s human nature.” For example, Willow is patiently waiting for her fiance to propose and to have a baby fantasising on what the future holds, dreaming or escaping her current life whether in the past or at the time the story is narrating. Was Willow living an illusion when she lived and thought she loved her fiance for decades, gratefully did all the wifey things and above all gave up on her childhood dream to help him become the entrepreneur he always wanted to be or did she ignore the "signs" or the advice of her school teacher guiding her and her classmates many ways to trust herself, and reminding her she is capable to choose and walk her path by herself.
Willow relied greatly on her aunt, Carla, who reminded me of Carmen in Tracy Beaker. Carmen and Carla did not have to be kind and to take the responsibility to raise Tracy or Willow but they did it so generously. They are both caring, patient, philosophical, artistic, they are different than any other typical parents, indeed with these atypical mums, girls around them can be themselves because they are fun, positive, non- judgemental, enthusiastic, supportive- in many ways, I do see some similarities with my own mother- and they have always been so encouraging with becoming a “writer”. I loved that Carla offered a typewriter to young Willow, it reminded me of my own typewriter which until then, I completely forgot I had one which was a gift from my grandmother, oh I absolutely loved that typewriter, but deep down I always preferred my grandmother’s, a very vintage black typewriter (I’d say 1920s-1930s), I used to contemplate it for hours in my grandma’s living room. Every time I read the word ‘typewriter’ in “Table for One”, I could not stop wondering whether my Grandma was able to keep it with her, now that she had to go and leave in a Care Home… Although I could dwell on feeling nostalgic, the morpheme “typewriter” uplifted my spirit and it has inspired me to acquire a vintage typewriter of my own that surely would motivate me to write more. But as Carla and Willow would say: “Turtle Steps”...
“Turtle Steps” has been the motto and the recurrent theme throughout the novel and now it is a philosophical concept I use outside Emma Gannon’s book, in the way I plan my day, my workload, my housekeeping, my admin and as you are reading this, it now appears in this writing piece too. It does help to move forward, slowly but surely, it helps with the recovery of physical and emotional pain. This novel contains loads of affairs of the heart but also of healing the heart from being abandoned by one’s mother - being heartbroken, seeing your best friends appearing happy - to abandoning yourself for a man or for a job, recovering from it can feel like you have fallen down a big massive dark well, yet you can still hear the voices of your friends and family living their best lives up there not far away while at the same time you are so close to them but deep down you feel so alone. As I write these words, I hear my mother sing one of her compositions she wrote in London in the 1980s: “I feel alone, so alone, not alone…” The freedom to write when your heart breaks is a way to reconnect your heart with your own personal sacred space, or as I like to call it: “the House of your Soul” (Awa, 2025). Emma Gannon makes the reader wonder what is your sacred space? How does it look like? Does it make you feel free to be who you want to be? To me, it looks like a “typewriter”.
Willow remembers one of her first interviews with a Zookeeper who talks about “The Process of Metamorphosis”. It is actually such a beautiful extract, I will let you discover it if or when you read “Table for One”; so I suppose what I would like to share is the message for all the altruistic and mindful humans out there, especially those who have developed the “Saviour Complex” when “you feel compelled to rescue, fix, or protect others—often at the expense of your own well-being. It goes beyond genuine kindness or empathy; it ties your self-worth and identity to being the one who carries or stabilizes everyone else.” (The 7 Cups Editorial Team, 2025) It is something that I have had (I want to say) battle for my entire life, just the way it is difficult not to be a "people pleaser"; indeed, it feels like someone is invisibly placing their hands on the front of your shoulders stopping you to move forward because in your mind, you are helping and not helping literally can bring intense and uncontrollable ‘crying spells’, it is involuntary and it may be triggered by what The 7 Cups Editorial Team may associate with: “Childhood Neglect or Abandonment: Children who do not receive consistent, unconditional love often learn to equate being "needed" with being loved. Rescuing others becomes a coping mechanism to prevent abandonment.” (The 7 Cups Editorial Team, 2025) Everybody might experience it differently but serving your man even if he does not treat you well, some may literally feel guilt for feeling unhappy, sad, unheard, not cared for and might accept inappropriate or unacceptable behaviour because they are afraid of experiencing abandonment or rejection (again). Out of love, we think we can change and/or they will change while most of the time, it appears we either abandoned ourselves or perhaps we believed we could change them. But “The Butterfly Process of Metamorphosis” is a reminder that we cannot change people from caterpillar to butterfly, it is a process that can be experienced individually at our own respective rhythm; whether they are flying away like a butterfly or whether we are going through the cocoon phase, one cannot intervene: you cannot keep a butterfly hostage nor you can expect someone to cocoon for you; some paths have to be walked in solitude… And as I am writing this, I can see through my French window doors, a butterfly flying by in my own wild courtyard.
“The Process of Metamorphosis” is not an easy process especially when you are the one watching the people you care about going through this process. If you haven’t, imagine it is like a young person who has to sit their exams, you cannot revise for them nor you can sit the exams for them. I mean everything is possible but what good would that do to that young person. Whether it is your son whose wings have been trimmed so that he could live with a caterpillar or whether it is the person you love not trusting the Universe, doubting the process and trying to push away the cocoon phase while in reality, both are delaying “The Process of Metamorphosis”. To me, love is to let the other spread their wings, the sky is the limit. One may feel frustrated or hopeful that things happen for a reason; in the meantime, one must continue to as Naz Chopra would say: “celebrate love in a way that suits you.” (Emma Gannon, 2025: 320) And the good news is you can take as many “Turtle Steps” as you need…
The last female character I wanted to bring into the picture is Naz Chopra, a successful Social Media phenomenon for her “positive attitude and successful lifestyle” and who promotes a ‘Single Life’ which irritates Willow while others would die to find out what the celebrity, Naz Chopra, is “really” hiding… Without spilling all the tea, I would say life finds many ways to test our core values, our life principles, our lifetime aspirations and places us in crossroads where we have to choose mindfully and wholeheartedly who we want to be. Whether you are a true believer of “The Process of Metamorphosis” or not, when you are experiencing a situation or many situations like let's take an example of what we call in Medical Anthropology, "issues of mind and society" that is mentioned in Emma Gannon's book i.e. “mainsplaining” (the act of man explaining something to a woman in a condescending, overconfident or patronising manner; term popularized by the author Rebecca Solnit’s 2008 essay, “Men Explain Things to Me”), social activities such as “Dopamine Dressing” as Naz Chopra calls it: “scientifically proven to raise your mood” (Emma Gannon, 2025: 161) and “Girls Night In” are some sort of healthy rituals which are conducive to discuss matters of the heart, create safe space to be ourselves, to open our hearts, express our souls as well as heal our hearts while navigating “The Butterfly Process of Metamorphosis”; so one day, we feel comfortable enough to sit with our heart and our soul at a table for one- opening our wings, undertaking activities and navigating the world just by ourselves, with “Turtle Steps”...
This blog was written by AWA!
If you are interested in stories that explore identity with honesty and depth, Table for One is a rewarding read. It invites you to pause and consider how your own life is shaped by the connections you make and the environments you inhabit. Reading it with an open mind can lead to surprising insights about yourself and others.
Take a moment to reflect on your own journey. How have the people in your life helped you discover who you are? What environments have influenced your growth? Table for One shows that these questions are at the heart of understanding ourselves.
This novel might inspire you to write about your own reading experiences or to explore new ways of seeing your story through the lens of others.
Click below to purchase the book, "Table for One" by Emma Gannon:
Happy Reading!!
AWA!
Educator, Movement & Theatre Practitioner
MA in Education (SEN/EAL)
MA in Medical Anthropology
MA in World Theatres & Cultures
FB/ IG: @theojascentre
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