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Small Pleasures

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction

Author: Clare Chambers  

(1 review)
Small Pleasures
Paperback

A novel of unexpected second chances set in 1950s England.

A novel of unexpected second chances set in 1950s England

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(1 review)
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Summary

A novel of unexpected second chances set in 1950s England.

A novel of unexpected second chances set in 1950s England

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Description

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

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Critic Reviews

“An almost flawlessly written tale of genuine, grown-up romantic anguish. Written in prose that is clipped as closely as suburban hedges . - THE SUNDAY TIMESNo twee romance, but a quietly compelling novel of duty and desire . - SUNDAY TELEGRAPH So good it made me want to read her entire backlist! - PRIMA Beautiful ... Small Pleasures is a sort of meditation on finding moments of joy (a solo cigarette, a melting ice-cream) in a context of wider sadness. - Emma Beddington in the Observer Magazine”

A very fine book... It's witty and sharp and reads like something by Barbara Pym or Anita Brookner, without ever feeling like a pastiche. David Nicholls, author of ONE DAY
Perfect. India Knight
Small lives, love and loneliness, wit and despair all wrapped in an unexpected mystery and placed in a perfectly-realised 50s setting. Effortless to read, but every sentence lingers in the mind. Lissa Evans, author of OLD BAGGAGE
This is one of the most tender, beautiful books I have ever read. Please, please order it now for July. I honestly don't want you to be without it. It is exquisite. Lucy Mangan
I've had about five people recommend this to me, which is quite rare... It's a novel about the last throw of the dice, the last chance perhaps of finding a life of happiness when you've had a struggle. The writing is beautiful. This is also the first novel Chambers has written for 10 years, which I find really inspiring. I think there's this discourse in our culture that you've got to have everything done in your first book ... But Chambers has been away for 10 years and she's come back with this absolute humdinger. It's just so nice to read a book by someone who's so confident with their talent. I'm glad she's having this renaissance. Jessie Burton
Quietly remarkable... Small Pleasures is no small pleasure. -- Andrew Billen THE TIMES
Small Pleasures is an almost flawlessly written tale of genuine, grown-up romantic anguish. Written in prose that is clipped as closely as suburban hedges, this is a book about seemingly mild people concealing turbulent feelings... one of the great strengths of the book is its tender, atmospheric descriptions of England: wet leaves, misted windows, the "melancholy sense of approaching dusk". Small Pleasures succeeds in creating one of those enclosed fictional worlds that, however desolate, has its own rules, its own flavour and its own charm. -- Johanna Thomas-Corr THE SUNDAY TIMES

There's compassion and quiet humour to be found in this tale of a putative virgin birth in postwar suburban London...
Chambers's eye for drab, undemonstrative details achieves a Larkin-esque lucidity.

-- Alfred Hickling GUARDIAN
An irresistible novel - wry, perceptive and quietly devastating. -- Hephzibah Anderson MAIL ON SUNDAY
Small Pleasures is no twee romance, but a quietly compelling novel of duty and desire. -- Francesca Carington THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
Wonderful. Richard Osman
A wonderful novel. I loved it. Nina Stibbe
Miraculous. Tracy Chevalier
A beautiful and moving read set in 1950s suburbia that'll be on bookseller tables across the land this summer -- Francesca Brown STYLIST
This is a dazzling, exquisitely written story of how happiness and even love can find us when we least expect it. -- Sarra Manning RED
There are small pleasures aplenty in Clare Chambers' quietly observed, 1950s-set story . . . Chambers' novel combines a startling storyline with an engagingly nuanced portrait of post-war suburban femininity -- Claire Allfree METRO
A stunning novel to steal your heart. WOMAN & HOME
A wonderfully compassionate imagining of the post-war years, darned with the fine skeins of love. -- Kerry Fowler SAINSBURY’S MAGAZINE
I loved this novel, which simmers with repressed emotions, and the gut punch of an ending really stayed with me. -- Jo Finney GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, Book of the Month
The glorious literary equivalent of pulling the duvet over your head... Both an absorbing mystery and a tender love story - and the ending is devastating. Chambers is a writer who finds the truth in things. If you admire Tessa Hadley or Anne Tyler (and there are shades of Barbara Pym too), then this is one for you. -- Alice O'Keefe The Bookseller, Book of the Month
It is a glorious piece of storytelling where powerful emotions and awful revelations are treated with a dignity that makes them all the more devastating. -- Eithne Farry DAILY MIRROR
A gentle, heart-aching mystery that's infused with empathy and a keen understanding of stifling 1950s mores. -- Stephanie Cross DAILY MAIL
The author's first novel in almost 10 years is so good it made me want to read her entire backlist!.. An enticing read. -- Nina Pottell PRIMA
I am perverse about those books that acquire a sudden, unexpected popularity; perhaps a combination of natural contrariness and fear of being out of step with the cultural zeitgeist. I'm glad I overcame that irrational prejudice for Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers, another story of lives that appear to have hit the buffers . . . A little gem of a book that transplants the listener quite elsewhere, while exploring the abiding issue of how much we are prepared to suspend our disbelief if we glimpse a chance of happiness. Financial Times (Best Audiobooks)
Clare Chambers's novel is a delight to read: completely and utterly haunting... Quietly confident with moments of vibrant humour, this is an exquisitely drawn study of human fragility. -- Helena Gumley-Mason THE LADY
Part mystery, part love story, part reflection on changing attitudes to sexuality in post-war Britain, Small Pleasures is a disarmingly gentle read that quietly builds to a devastating conclusion. -- Scarlett Sangster PRESS ASSOCIATION - syndicated across regional newspapers and websites
A devourable mystery with a side order of love story set in 1950s suburbia. -- Rosamund Dean GRAZIA
Hauntingly tender, and written with powerful grace, Clare Chambers's Small Pleasures is an absolute joy from start to finish... Laying bare a quivering three-way tug between obligation, propriety and passion, and the inexplicable way thunderbolt-bonds are formed between similar-souled individuals, Jean's conflicts and chance to love truly get under your skin. What a remarkable book, with a dagger-sharp climax that will pierce your heart. LOVEREADING - July Picks of the Month and a Star Book
Beautiful... Small Pleasures is a sort of meditation on finding moments of joy (a solo cigarette, a melting ice-cream) in a context of wider sadness. Emma Beddington in the Observer Magazine
Small Pleasures is a tender and heart-rending tale that will draw you in from the first page and keep you gripped until the very end. Exquisitely compelling! Ruth Hogan, author of THE KEEPER OF LOST THINGS
Clare Chambers is that rare thing, a novelist of discreet hilarity, deep compassion and stiletto wit whose perspicacious account of suburban lives with their quiet desperation and unexpected passion makes her the 21st century heir to Jane Austen, Barbara Pym and Elizabeth Taylor. Small Pleasures is both gripping and a huge delight. I loved what she did with the trope of the claim of a virgin birth, and how the hope of a miracle opens the door to love, kindness and hope in an arid existence. This is better than Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and deserves just as much acclaim. Amanda Craig, author of THE LIE OF THE LAND
Clare Chambers is such a witty, astute and subtle writer. There is a delightful whiff of Pym or Whipple about Small Pleasures - it's an absolute delight! Lucy Atkins, author of MAGPIE LANE
Elegant, compelling, funny, sad. I loved every word of this tone perfect novel. I was so absorbed I stopped only to wonder if the author had squirrelled away a lost classic by Barbara Pym and presented it as her own. Polly Samson, author of A THEATRE FOR DREAMERS
Small Pleasures is a gorgeous treat of a novel: the premise is fascinating, the characters beautifully drawn and utterly compelling, the period setting masterfully and delicately evoked, and the plot is full of unexpected twists and turns. And oh, the finale broke my heart. I just couldn't put this novel down. Laura Barnett, #1 bestselling author of THE VERSIONS OF US
I adored Small Pleasures. It's engrossing and gripping: you want to race on and relish every sentence at the same time. I love the way Clare writes - her wry, subtle turns of phrase, the humour in the smallest of observations, the finely drawn characters. A wonderful book' Sabine Durrant, author of LIE WITH ME
A delicious mystery and a touching exploration of loneliness and desire in cloying 1950s suburbia - a great read. Sally Magnusson, author of THE SEALWOMAN'S GIFT
Small Pleasures is the best sort of book: full of longing, regret and difficult emotions but leavened with so much warmth and humour it was a joy from start to finish. Francesca Jakobi, author of BITTER
The must-read uplifting book of the summer. WEST END LANE BOOKSHOP
You know one of those rare books that just immerses you with its richly constructed world and compelling narrative. Well, Small Pleasures is that book. BOOK RIOT, Best Books of Summer 2020

Praise for the audiobook:
Narrated by Karen Cass, who ably gives voice to a range of characters including lugubrious journalists, the potential trickster, Swiss woman Gretchen Tilbury, and her phlegmatic husband Howard, it's a little gem of a book that transplants the listener quite elsewhere, while exploring the abiding issue of how much we are prepared to suspend our disbelief if we glimpse a chance of happiness.

FINANCIAL TIMES
The novel's charms lie less in its sensational subject than in the journalist's tentative efforts to escape the drab horizons of her daily existence. Quietly perfect. -- Claire Allfree EVENING STANDARD, Books of the Year
Blissful. -- Cressida Connelly THE SPECTATOR, Books of the Year
This is a dazzling, exquisitely written story of how happiness and even love can find us when we least expect it. -- Sarra Manning RED MAGAZINE, 10 Best Books of 2020
This novel brings a sensibility not unlike those of Barbara Pym and Philip Larkin to a story (inspired by a real-life episode in the 1950s) of a woman who claims to have had a child by virgin birth... In a milieu of reticence and chin-up stoicism, startling revelations surface and emotions hopefully stir. -- Peter Kemp THE TIMES, Best Novels of 2020
Made me want to read the whole of her back catalogue!... An enticing read. -- Nina Pottell PRIMA, Books of the Year
One of the year's most quietly affecting books... achingly tender. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, Books of the Year

PRAISE FOR CLARE CHAMBERS

'Clare Chambers is a diamond in the dust' Independent on Sunday

'Clare Chambers' characters are so vivid that, by the end of the book, they feel like old friends' Daily Mail


A book I very much enjoyed and will be gifting is SMALL PLEASURES by Clare Chambers. It's a love story tangled up with a very satisfying mystery. The portrayal of post-war suburbia, its boredom and frustration, is so vivid and you long for the characters to find happiness. It's Brief Encounter with an ingenious twist. -- David Nicholls GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, Books of the Year
Set in 1957, Chambers' atmospheric tale of lonely journalist Jean and her last chance at love is compelling, beautifully written and will shatter your heart into smithereens. Unmissable. -- Charlotte Heathcote DAILY EXPRESS, Books of the Year

Clare Chambers' novels have a unique quality of elegiac charm, and Small Pleasures, her breakthrough success, is set in
recognisable 1950s' Kent. The setting alone is a wonderful escape from our own big bad reality and the plot - based on a true story of a woman who claimed to have undergone a virgin birth - is both striking and atmospheric. Hers is a lost suburban world of quiet anguish and inhibited ecstasies. Chambers is compared to Barbara Pym but is more joyful and
addictive. I was hooked from her first novel. Treat yourself to all her work.

-- Jane Thynne THE TABLET, Best Books of the Year
Some of the year's most purely enjoyable reading could be found in this perfectly formed, 1950s-set tale... A droll, charming and wholly absorbing blend of period mystery and romance. -- Anthony Cummins METRO, Books of the Year
I loved this book. Thoughtful and empathetic storytelling that is full of suspense. It is full of conflict, asking questions about duty and happiness. -- Jamie Klingler I NEWSPAPER
Clare Chambers's bittersweet novel of unexpected late love is beautifully observed and quietly compelling. -- Jane Shilling DAILY MAIL

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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.

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More on this Book

'A WORD-OF-MOUTH HIT' Evening Standard 'Perfect' India Knight 'Beautiful' Jessie Burton 'Wonderful' Richard Osman 'Miraculous' Tracy Chevalier 'A very fine novel... Witty and sharp' David Nicholls 'Every sentence lingers in the mind' Lissa Evans 'One of the most beautiful books I have ever read' Lucy Mangan '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 'Chambers' eye for undemonstrative details achieves a Larkin-esque lucidity' Guardian 'An almost flawlessly written tale of grown-up romantic anguish' The Sunday Times 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. But there will, inevitably, be a price to pay.

Read more

Product Details

Publisher
Orion Publishing Co | Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Published
29th April 2021
Pages
368
ISBN
9781474613903

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06 Sep, 2021
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