I went into this galley barely knowing a thing about the plot or premise, having requested it solely for the cover. And it ended up being a really great, interrogative novel. Your Neighbour’s Table is a story about community and the cultural expectations of motherhood. Four women (and their families) move into the Dream Future Pilot Communal Apartments, just on the outskirts of Seoul, South Korea. Here, they’ll take part in a government initiative designed to boost the national birth rate, which has been falling at a rate of knots. Like her neighbours, our protagonist Yojin has agreed to live in this experimental communal space and have at least two more children over the next 10 years.

Community, a dream for parents, right? It takes a village, we’ve all heard.

However, as the last family to move in, Yojin almost immediately begins to feel uneasy about the enforced community spirit. Her concerns only deepen as the communal childcare begins, and the other parents begin to entangle their lives.There’s some really brilliant threads being woven here: a social commentary on tribalism, fertility, motherhood, parenthood, community, and on gender roles. The women soon begin to shrink into themselves, downplaying their responsibilities and workload and the challenges of being women with jobs and careers. As Yojin reveals her worries, the other families press on with their ambitions for a future communal living space outside of the initiative, a sort of premade utopia.

An illuminating and ambitious novel, Your Neighbour’s Table taps into the everyday minutiae of motherhood, baring to all the unspoken labours that women take on both inside and out of parenthood. I had a small issue with the translation style and the chapter-less structure, but thoroughly enjoyed this nonetheless.