Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION

A BBC 2 ‘BETWEEN THE COVERS’ BOOK CLUB PICK

‘Wonderful’ RICHARD OSMAN

‘Perfect’ INDIA KNIGHT

‘Beautiful’ JESSIE BURTON

‘Witty and sharp’ DAVID NICHOLLS

1957, the suburbs of south east London. Jean Swinney is a journalist on a local paper, trapped in a life of duty and disappointment from which there is no likelihood of escape. When a young woman, Gretchen Tilbury, contacts the paper to claim that her daughter is the result of a virgin birth, it is down to Jean to discover whether she is a miracle or a fraud. As the investigation turns her quiet life inside out, Jean is suddenly given an unexpected chance at friendship, love and – possibly – happiness.

‘Gorgeous . . . I could not recommend it more’ PANDORA SYKES

‘Remarkable . . . Small Pleasures is no small pleasure’ THE TIMES

‘Irresistible . . . wry, perceptive and quietly devastating’ MAIL ON SUNDAY

A novel of unexpected second chances set in 1950s England

About the Author: Clare Chambers’s first job after university was working for Diana Athill at Andre Deutsch. Her first novel Uncertain Terms was published in 1992 and she is the author of eight other novels.

Small Pleasures, her first work of fiction in ten years, became a word-of-mouth hit on publication, was selected for BBC 2 Between the Covers book club and for BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime, and was selected as a Book of the Year by The Times, the Evening Standard, Daily Telegraph, Spectator, Metro, Red and Good Housekeeping. It also won Pageturner of the Year Award at the British Book Awards 2022 and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2021.

29 Apr 2021
 

Small Pleasures: Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction by Clare Chambers ISBN 9781474613903