Small Pleasures: A Novel

Written by Clare Chambers

Narrated by Karen Cass

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. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Oct 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9780063091016

Clare Chambers

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.

Reviews for Small Pleasures

[Lyn Durham · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The reader was just perfect. Her portrayal of the characters was subtle and wonderfully believable. Thank you! Story was pretty good too!

[Gisele Granato · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Did she just kill a character for the sponsorship or is it just me? This book has a lot of self-sacrifice taken as "something to be expected" when that is actually pretty messed up. The writer has a nice way of describing scenes and feelings though which felt like a waste for how it ended. The reader however is great.

[Victoria Edelsbrunner · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A lovely book, reminiscent of Sarah Waters or Tracey Chevalier. Be warned of a bit of a jarring ending.

[Barbara · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I would have rated this book a 5 star if it hadn’t been for the ending. So much of the book was devoted to building sympathy for the main characters-Jean and Howard-that the ending, in the afterword, felt like a slap in the face. The narrator was excellent but I felt I wasted my time given the end.

[smits_52 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This novel did read well but it read awfully slow. Sometimes the mystery Jean is trying to unravel of a women having a baby without help from any male,gets forgotten. I liked Jean and enjoyed reading about her life as a journalist , single woman and caregiver to a difficult mother in 1950s England. But the plot was weak and the ending of this novel was weak as well.

[Elena · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great narration, the title refers to the small pleasures in the routine life of the main character, routine that ends with the start of an affair that ends tragically

[dianekeenoy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I got this book recommendation quite awhile ago from Mary Loves Books who I believe is in Ireland. I was finally able to get it (twice because I forgot I had already ordered it!) and just finished it! Ser in 1957, it features Jean Swinney as a featured editor at a small local paper in the suburbs of London. Almost 40 years old, Jean leads a small life working and caring for her very demanding mother. Everything changes when a young woman, Gretchen Tilbury contacts the paper claiming her daughter is the result of a virgin birth. What an exquisite book, both a mystery and a love story, Small Pleasures celebrates the beauty and potential for joy in all things plain and unfashionable! Highly recommended! And, the cover is beautiful, too!

[brangwinn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Set in 1957 in the southeast suburbs of London, Jean Swinney, a single 39-year-old news reporter is investigating a woman’s claim that she had a virgin birth. Her reporting becomes more when she finds she really likes the Tilbury family and is often included in family outings. She adores the daughter, Margret, and finds herself thinking of husband in romantic ways. I enjoyed the book but was a little bit put off by the discovery or how Margaret was conceived. The ending was devastating. Overall, when I reached the end, I didn’t find it a satisfying story, but I think there was no happy ending to many of real life stories. Karen Cass’s narration was spot on.

[pgchuis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved this until the very end, which was so unnecessary and so disappointing that I am deducting a whole star for it. I will also be pretending it didn't happen. Otherwise, the writing was great, the sense of time strong, and probably the sense of place too (although my years in Chislehurst/Orpington don't seem to have left much geographical memory). Recommended, but don't read right to the end.

[beamis12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

1957 in a London suburb, Jean lives a rather staid life. She is close to forty, unmarried, lives with and looks after mother. She writes various columns for the local paper, Pam's piece, Garden week and Household hints. "Has the stiffening at the back of your house slippers worn down? I have successfully repaired several pairs by sewing a piece of old collar inside. The semi-stiff I nd from a man's shirt is ideal and will prolong the life of your slippers."Her life flows a daily pattern until one day an article in the paper catches the eye of a woman. The article is on, parthenogenesis. reproduction from an ovum without fertilization, especially as a normal process in some invertebrates and lower plants."cyclic parthenogenesis is well displayed in aphids"The woman writes that the birth of her daughter was a virgin birth and the paper allows Jean to discover if the woman is telling the truth or is a fraud. Jeans life will take an unpredictable but more fulfilling turn.A quiet novel but the fifties setting and the character of Jean are well drawn. Interesting subject matter and an enjoyable read.

[riofriotex · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Jean Swinney is a 40-year-old single newspaper reporter living a dreary life with her widowed mother in 1957 England. She mostly writes women's columns, like household hints, but one day 20-something Gretchen Tilbury contacts the paper and claims that her ten-year-old daughter Margaret is the result of a virgin birth. Jean gets the assignment to find out if it's fact or fraud.Gretchen and Margaret willingly participate in various medical tests that are supposed to provide an answer. Meanwhile, Jean interviews various people who knew Gretchen ten years earlier, and becomes friends with the family, including Gretchen's much-older husband Howard.I won't spoil the resolution of the mystery, nor the other surprise developments along the way. I will say that I was extremely disappointed in the ending, as it left a number of characters hanging. And that was a shame, as I enjoyed the character development as well as the depiction of life in late-1950s England.

[lorikboyd · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Story is set in the late 1950’s, and I found the tone, situations and overall feel of the story very true to that time period. This should be kept in mind while reading this book, especially for some of the events happening within. The story line was interesting…journalist, Jean, is a journalist, living a pretty mundane life. A letter comes across her desk from a woman, Gretchen, who claims her daughter is the result of a virgin birth. It is up to Jean to find out the truth. Jean becomes very close with Gretchen and her family which puts her in some uneasy and difficult situations. The story proceeded slowly, giving little pieces out here and there. There was a totally different element that was thrown in, which I never really understood, until the ending….but for me it could have been left out totally. Did not care for this ending at all. While I appreciated the author’s attention to period and detail, and would give her writing another try, this is one where I was so disappointed that it ruined the book and left me flat. Thanks to Ms. Chambers, William Marrow and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.

[susan.h.schofield · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm not sure how I feel about this book - I certainly didn't love it but I didn't hate it either. The writing was good and the story was intriguing but something about it just didn't click with me. I was disappointed in the ending and would have have liked more closure for Jean and even Gretchen and Margaret. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

[sanddune_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the late 1950s Jean Swinney, an unmarried woman approaching forty, is working as a journalist on a local paper in the London suburbs. Her working life is usually filled with nothing more stimulating than writing columns on household hints or commentaries on the latest local weddings. Her home life is even less rewarding and stultifying, as the daughter left at home to look after a needy and ungrateful mother. All she can really hope for are the small pleasures snatched in the rare moments she has to herself:‘Twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays between eight-thirty and nine, Jean was mistress of the house, free to do as she liked. She could listen to the wireless without her mother’s commentary, eat standing up in the kitchen, read in perfect silence or run naked through the rooms if she chose.Of all the various liberties available, her favourite was to unfasten her girdle and lie at full stretch on the couch with an ashtray on her stomach and smoke two cigarettes back to back. There was no reason why she couldn’t do this in her mother’s presence — lying down in the day might prompt an enquiry about her health, no more — but it wasn’t nearly so enjoyable in company.’But then, after an article on parthenogenesis appears in the local paper, a local woman called Gretchen Tillbury writes in to claim that her own ten year old daughter was the result of a virgin birth. Sent to investigate, an initially sceptical Jean is surprised to find that Gretchen’s story is actually very believable. Gretchen consents to medical tests of herself and her daughter to prove her claims, and as the tests proceed Jean finds herself more and more involved in the lives of the Tilbury family, with unexpected consequences.Longlisted for the Women’s Prize in 2021, this is a beautifully written book that is so evocative of suburban life in the 1950s. I will be looking out for more by Claire Chambers.

[faradaydon_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Best fiction book of the year so far. Wonderfully told, but what an ending. Also loved the afterword explaining how the story came about.

[angtc-632630 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Beautifully written. Horror of an ending.

[infjsarah · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the kind of book I would NEVER pick up but it was chosen as one for my reading group. But to my surprise I enjoyed it a lot. But I HATED the end. And some of it was far too close to my actual life to be enjoyable!Well written and the "mystery" is really only to hang the characters on.

[nicx27 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've read several of Clare Chambers' previous books and loved them. I've been hoping for a new book for some years and at last here it is! Small Pleasures is an absolute triumph.It's 1957. Jean Swinney is a reporter on the North Kent Echo. She's led a life of disappointment and stultifying routine, being the daughter required to stay with her mother and look after her. One day a letter is received at the newspaper from Gretchen Tilbury, claiming that her daughter was the product of a virgin birth. Jean meets the family and finds herself being drawn into their lives, seeing in them all the relationships she could have had."She had spent a lifetime on the sidelines, observing, noting, learning; the little details that other people missed were not lost on her."This is a beautifully written book. Chambers' prose is exquisite, so observant and full of wry humour about the minutiae of life. It's the sort of book where I wanted to continually stop and mark passages that stood out. The characters are so well-drawn. I found Jean to be a frustrated, yet sympathetic character, and I particularly liked Howard, Gretchen's husband, a kind and thoughtful man.This isn't a book I was able to rush. I wanted to take my time and savour not only the story and the characterisations, but also the sheer quality of the writing and the way that the author writes about everyday events with beauty and perception. She takes us from stifling suburbia to smoggy London with ease, transporting the reader there as surely as if they were living through it themselves.A comparison has been made with the writing of Kate Atkinson and I think this is very accurate, but Chambers has a style all of her own which I delighted in. The ending left me with mixed feelings and if you read it you'll see why, but I haven't got a bad word to say about this wonderful read. It's an absolute delight.