Review Detail

‘Room and Board’ by Miriam Parker contains a nice mixture of the past and the present. When Gillian moves from New York to California after a scandal rocks her publicity career, she finds herself back on her old stomping grounds. Becoming a dorm mother at her former prep school was never something she envisioned herself doing, but with her plummeting career, someone reaching out to offer the position seemed like something she couldn’t pass up. Being back on campus brings back lots of memories—both happy and painful. Those two feelings come to a head when she once again comes upon her high school crush and her former high school roommate’s boyfriend, Aiden. When she finds herself crossing paths with him again, and back at the high school no less, she can’t help but feel the butterflies of her past longing for him coupled with her deep desire to avoid the trouble that liking him caused her in the first place.

Warm as well as bitter memories of Gillian’s young adulthood are peppered throughout the pages of the novel. All the while, she finds herself connecting with a new batch of young people who walk the halls of her former dormitory. While they seem conceited and spoiled on the outside, she finds there is depth to each of them and enjoys learning about their lives, their hopes, and their thoughts about the future.

Gillian finds new friends while she hesitates to take on the role of publicist for the campus when a variety of issues, and even scandals, arise. Yet, she fall right back into her groove of working with people and finding ways to engage with the community.

Despite Gillian being in her late thirties when the novel begins, there is still a sense of coming of age for her as she finds herself and her purpose in a familiar place, though at a different time in her life. She realizes things about herself, and about others, that allow her to feel a sense of belonging that she never truly felt in her past.