Small Pleasures

Author: Clare Chambers

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $32.99 AUD
  • :
  • : 9781474613897
  • : Orion Publishing Group, Limited
  • : Weidenfeld & Nicolson
  • :
  • : 0.3
  • : December 2019
  • : 2.9 Centimeters X 23.5 Centimeters X 15.4 Centimeters
  • :
  • : 32.99
  • :
  • : January 2021
  • :
  • : books

Special Fields

  • :
  • :
  • : Clare Chambers
  • :
  • : Paperback
  • : 2007
  • :
  • :
  • : 823.92
  • : very good
  • :
  • : 352
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Barcode 9781474613897
9781474613897

Description

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 (and not unpleasantly) 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 - and when she does fall, she falls hard. 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. And yet Jean cannot bring herself to discard the chance of finally having a taste of happiness... But there will be a price to pay, and it will be unbearable.

Awards

Longist - Women's Prize for Fiction 2021

Reviews

'The 21st century heir to Jane Austen, Barbara Pym and Elizabeth Taylor. SMALL PLEASURES is both gripping and a huge delight' --Amanda Craig