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Small Pleasures: A Novel Hardcover – October 12, 2021

by Clare Chambers (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 19,961 ratings
Goodreads Choice Award nominee
See all formats and editions
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In the best tradition of Tessa Hadley, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Ann Patchett—an astonishing, keenly observed period piece about an ordinary British woman in the 1950s whose dutiful life takes a sudden turn into a pitched battle between propriety and unexpected passion.

"With wit and dry humor...quietly affecting in unexpected ways. Chambers' language is beautiful, achieving what only the most skilled writers can: big pleasure wrought from small details."--The New York Times

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION

1957: Jean Swinney is a feature writer on a local paper in the southeast suburbs of London. Clever but with limited career opportunities and on the brink of forty, Jean lives a dreary existence that includes caring for her demanding widowed mother, who rarely leaves the house. It’s a small life with little joy and no likelihood of escape.

That all changes when a young woman, Gretchen Tilbury, contacts the paper to claim that her daughter is the result of a virgin birth. Jean seizes onto the bizarre story and sets out to discover whether Gretchen is a miracle or a fraud. But the more Jean investigates, the more her life becomes strangely (and not unpleasantly) intertwined with that of the Tilburys, including Gretchen’s gentle and thoughtful husband Howard, who mostly believes his wife, and their quirky and charming daughter Margaret, who becomes a sort of surrogate child for Jean. Gretchen, too, becomes a much-needed friend in an otherwise empty social life.

Jean cannot bring herself to discard what seems like her one chance at happiness, even as the story that she is researching starts to send dark ripples across all their lives…with unimaginable consequences.

Both a mystery and a love story, Small Pleasures is a literary tour-de-force in the style of The Remains of the Day, about conflict between personal fulfillment and duty; a novel that celebrates the beauty and potential for joy in all things plain and unfashionable. 

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    352 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Mariner Books
  4. Publication date
    October 12, 2021
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.13 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    006309472X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0063094727
  8. See all details
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Popular Highlights in this book
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  1. The journey into love was so effortless and graceful; the journey out such a long and laboured climb.
    Highlighted by 1,104 Kindle readers
  2. Insight, overdue but dazzling, opened Jean’s eyes to the truth that when help is accepted, both parties are enriched.
    Highlighted by 619 Kindle readers
  3. Having done the right thing was nothing like the consolation she had hoped. Without constant congratulation, virtue was a lonely business.
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From the Publisher

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Gripping...penetrates the secret hopes and passionate inner lives of ordinary working people. The characters provoke so much empathy, readers may have trouble remembering that they’re fictional.” — Booklist

“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.”  — Johanna Thomas-Corr, Sunday Times

“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—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.” — Jessie Burton, bestselling author of The Miniaturist

“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

“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.”  — The Scotsman

"With wit and dry humor...quietly affecting in unexpected ways. Chambers' language is beautiful, achieving what only the most skilled writers can: big pleasure wrought from small details." — New York Times

“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,bestselling author of One Day 

"An irresistible novel—wry, perceptive and quietly devastating." — Hephzibah Anderson, Mail on Sunday

“A brilliant book… A love story between people who are not usually the leading players in love story… I found it incredibly absorbing." — Kathleen MacMahon, The Irish Times

About the Author

Clare Chambers is the author of nine novels, including Small Pleasures, which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. She lives with her husband in southeast London.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mariner Books; First Edition (October 12, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 006309472X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0063094727
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.13 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 19,961 ratings

About the author

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Clare Chambers

Clare Chambers

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Clare Chambers was born in south east London in 1966. She studied English at Oxford and spent the year after graduating in New Zealand, where she wrote her first novel, Uncertain Terms, published when she was 25. She has since written eight further novels, including Learning to Swim (Century 1998) which won the Romantic Novelists’ Association best novel award and was adapted as a Radio 4 play, and In a Good Light (Century 2004) which was longlisted for the Whitbread best novel prize.

Clare began her career as a secretary at the publisher André Deutsch, when Diana Athill was still at the helm. They not only published her first novel, but made her type her own contract. In due course she went on to become a fiction and non-fiction editor there herself, until leaving to raise a family and concentrate on her own writing. Some of the experiences of working for an eccentric, independent publisher in the pre-digital era found their way into her novel The Editor’s Wife (Century, 2007). When her three children were teenagers, inspired by their reading habits, she produced two YA novels, Bright Girls (HarperCollins 2009) and Burning Secrets (HarperCollins 2011).

Her most recent novel is Small Pleasures (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2020).

She takes up a post as Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Kent in September 2020.

She lives with her husband in south east London and generally has her nose in a book.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
19,961 global ratings
emotional read
4 Stars
emotional read
Initially, I questioned the premise of the story line of this novel, an immaculate conception. As the story unfolded, a news reporter, Jean, is on a quest to dig deeper into the past to find the truth about Gretchen becoming impregnated while a child in catholic home for ill girls. For me, the story is more about Jean and her personal struggles and questioning the path her life is on. Seeing her character change and evolve from outside forces and the people that intersect her life is what pulled me into this novel. I enjoyed this novel. There are many negative reviews about the ending, but I understood why Chamber ended the story in this way. What I question is the title of the book and the cover art. These have a disconnect for me.
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Top reviews from the United States

Basha Raizel
5.0 out of 5 stars Quietly haunting and unforgettable
Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2023
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A beautifully-written story that will stay with me for a long time.
2 people found this helpful
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Erika
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2021
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“Never before had she considered that all these experiences that had nearly demolished her had built her into something better.” - Small Pleasures.

1957, south-east suburbs of London.
Jean Swinney is a feature writer on a local paper, disappointed in love and — on the brink of forty — living a limited existence with her truculent mother: a small life from which there is no likelihood of escape. When a young Swiss 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. But the more Jean investigates, the more her life becomes strangely intertwined with that of the Tilburys: Gretchen is now a friend, and her quirky and charming daughter Margaret a sort of surrogate child. And Jean doesn't mean to fall in love with Gretchen's husband, Howard, but Howard surprises her with his dry wit, his intelligence and his kindness. But he is married, and to her friend — who is also the subject of the story she is researching for the newspaper, a story that increasingly seems to be causing dark ripples across all their lives.

I was so intrigued by this book because I’ve heard so many people comment on the ending. So naturally I knew I had to read it to form my own opinion. Overall, I loved this story! It is very character driven with a mystery at the heart of the plot about a supposed virgin birth. I also thought that the time period this story is set in was interesting and fit the story well. Because of the great writing, I found myself not wanting to set the book down and the little reveals kept me guessing. If this is on your radar, definitely give it a read!
6 people found this helpful
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Martha
3.0 out of 5 stars Three and a half stars
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2022
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The book captures nicely what life in 1950s England must have been like for a single woman. The characters and storyline were very well written.

I would have rated the book higher had it not been for the abrupt and inconclusive ending. I was not ready to leave the ending up to my imagination, for all I could come up with was a great deal of pain for just about everyone.
5 people found this helpful
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PATRICIA E. STILL
5.0 out of 5 stars Glad to have found another author to follow.
Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2023
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Loved this creative new writing style. Difficult to imagine what was going to happen next in the story, and to find a good spot to put the book down for another time.
One person found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written but will break your heart
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2022
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I'm not going to share the whole plot like other reviewers have but this book will break your heart, at least it certainly did mine. You learn to love these characters and the author rips your heart out and stomps on it at the end of the book. I'm still mad about it to this day and I read the book months ago.
7 people found this helpful
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Gloria M
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Condition
Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2023
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The book was in very condition when it arrived. Excellent value for money.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars lovely and hopeful
Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2021
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The past is present in this lovely and thoughtful story. Ane small pleasures reveal large gifts. The language of the story is beautiful and filled with satisfied longing.
5 people found this helpful
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michael ray
5.0 out of 5 stars A captivating read
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2021
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I was delighted to discover this author; despite being an avid reader I had not heard of her. On completion I immediately downloaded one of her other books.
The story is based on a true events in 1957 in England. I thought that she was able to capture the social history of the time so well and her characters where totally believable despite the implausibility of the idea of a virgin birth.
6 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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northumbrianlady
5.0 out of 5 stars A real treasure of a book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 13, 2024
Verified Purchase
I absolutely loved this book. Not only was it beautifully written, but it had both a gripping mystery and a touching love story at its heart. As someone who remembers (just!) the 1950s and also worked as a local newspaper journalist, it felt very authentic. It captures perfectly the dull conformity of life in the suburbs at that time - what we ate, what we wore, what we listened to on the wireless (usually called that, not the radio) - and the grim seediness of post-war London.
One person found this helpful
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martateacher3y5
5.0 out of 5 stars A true smal pleasure
Reviewed in Spain on August 4, 2023
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I started the book with not very high expectations but surprisingly, it grabbed me from the get-go. Even if the premise is rather quirky (a virgin birth mystery), the characters are engaging and you never know where the plot will lead to. The book is profoundly human, well-crafted, simple but not simplistic. For me, reading it was a highly enjoyable experience.
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Patricia Koster
5.0 out of 5 stars Bijzonder, gevoelig, een verademing dat zulke boeken nog worden geschreven.
Reviewed in the Netherlands on January 27, 2023
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Met geen enkel boek te vergelijken, heerlijk om te lezen.
One person found this helpful
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C. McCarthy
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!
Reviewed in France on June 8, 2022
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This story is so unexpected, filled with twists and turns, and the characters are very well-drawn. The discoveries made by a middle-aged reporter, both professional and personal, lead the story forward to a most unexpected conclusion. I highly recommend it!
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Jeanette
5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful read
Reviewed in Germany on April 19, 2022
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this book is so beautifully written and the characters lovingly described. i found myself falling in love with all of them, but especially jean and howard.
the story of trying to prove or disprove a "virgin birth" is quite original and i imagine that the author captured life in the 1950s very well.
jean's emotions and her being torn between duty or what society expects and her deep feelings are very warmly described. i should have seen the end coming but didn't until the last minute - probably because i was so engrossed in the story and the characters.
beautiful and definitely recommended: thank you very much, clare chambers :)
One person found this helpful
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