Small Pleasures: Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021

Clare Chambers

Jul 2020 · Weidenfeld & Nicolson · Narrated by Karen Cass

About this audiobook

'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.

Ratings and reviews

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers is a beautifully written fictional story of ordinary people, who lead ordinary lives until unusual circumstances change their lives forever. The writing is so beautiful and simplistic, and I was drawn into the story and into the character’s lives quickly and I couldn’t stop until I was done with the book. The main story focuses on Jean, a very ordinary small-town journalist who discovers a woman, Gretchen, who claims to have given a virgin birth to her now 10-year-old daughter, Margaret. The book revolves around Jean, doing the research to try and find the truth to her claim. In doing the research, Jean becomes very involved with Gretchen and her family. Gretchen’s husband, Howard knows about the circumstances surrounding Margaret’s birth and he believes his wife’s claim. Jean also takes a liking to the daughter, Margaret, the outcome of the virgin birth, and she eventually feels very protective of her. I liked that this story gave a realistic view of a time in the past. So many books romanticize a time period, making it sound heroic and gives a nostalgic look at the time period. The author here gave the reader a very realistic glimpse at life in Kent in 1957 for an average person. The book is full of normal and mundane details of the time, giving the reader a real sense of what life was like and how people managed their daily life and chores during that time period. Jean’s research into Gretchen’s claim gives the book a bit of mystery as we wonder if Gretchen’s claims are true and if so, how did Margaret’s conception occur? The details of the medical tests and Jean’s search for the women who lived in the convalescent home where Gretchen was a patient during the time she became pregnant with Margaret are interesting and give some insight to care for the very ill during this time period. Small Pleasures is a book that you’re going to love, or possibly dislike, as it’s not glamorous, or filled with exciting scenes, but it’s so ordinary and simplistic that it’s beautiful. I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

About the author

Clare Chamber's first job after reading English Literature at Hertford College, Oxford, was working for Diana Athill at Andre Deutsch. Clare's first novel UNCERTAIN TERMS was published by Diana at André Deutsch in 1992 and she is the author of five other novels.
SMALL PLEASURES, her first work of fiction in ten years, became a word-of-mouth hit on publication and was selected for BBC 2's 'Between the Covers' book club.