The writing in this book is well done and I enjoyed this book until the last chapter.
I felt the ending didn’t fit with the rest of the book.
Disappointing end to a good read

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I look forward to reading everything that Clare Chambers produces. Small Pleasures did not disappoint.

Beautiful, wonderful, heartbreaking….. get the tissues at the ready.
Thank you to the publisher for gifting me this book. You will not regret reading it

I fully enjoyed reading this book. All characters are well portrayed . The emotional side was handled skilfully. A good choice for a book group as it will generate an interesting discussion. The ending took me by surprise but when I thought about it I realised it was so appropriate.

What a joy to read! It isn’t my usual book to pick up but I’m so glad I did. I was sucked into the characters, the story and wondering if it is true… incredibly believable (even though I knew it couldn’t possibly be!).
Small pleasures was a huge pleasure for me.

Although the premise of this book was probably the most intriguing of all the books released in 2020, its execution still causes more of my eyebrows to raise. So much of it just lacked coherency in terms of plot arc and character motivations, and I went away from it even more baffled than I was at the beginning. And, let us be honest here, the end scene surely didn't help.

Such a delight of a book, but with an ambiguous, heart wrenching ending. I love the fact that the author is confident enough not to tie up the story in a neat bow. Beautiful, beautiful book, I can't wait to start telling people to read this RIGHT NOW.

In Small Pleasures, Jean Swinney, a reporter on the North Kent Echo in the 1950s, is sent to investigate Gretchen Tilbury’s claim to have had a virgin birth. As Jean looks into the case, and gets to know the Tilbury family, she realizes all the things that are missing from her own life.
This is a beautifully written story full of historical detail and a strong sense of time and place. The characters are convincing and illustrate the conflict between duty and personal happiness in the post-war years, before the freedom of the ‘swinging sixties’.
The title is very apt; Jean looks forward to the ‘small pleasures’ in her day, as they provide solace in a life at the beck and call of her frail and demanding elderly mother.
Small Pleasures would make an interesting period drama, on television or film, as the story leaves a lasting impression. I had not read any other novels by Clare Chambers, but now intend to explore her earlier work as I enjoyed this story very much.
Thanks to Orion and NetGalley for a digital copy to review.

Thank you to Netgalley, Orion and Clare Chambers for this e-copy in return for my honest review. This is a gorgeous book. It's one that will definitely stay with me for a long time and one that I have no hesitancy in recommend. It's well crafted and multi layered. Simply stunning.

Sometimes a book comes along that you just can't forget, even long after you have turned the final page. Sometimes a book comes along that you can't stop telling everyone about, or buying for people as a gift. Sometimes a book is so pitch perfect that it consumes you totally. Small Pleasures is that book. Huge pleasure reading it and now off to investigate Clare Chambers' backlist.

South East London, 1957: Jean Swinney is a reporter for a local London paper, normally consigned to the kind of article that revolves around gardening and handy household tips.

Jean's life has shrunk over the years, and now, nearing forty, she finds herself passing her time between her comfortable niche at the paper, and looking after her difficult, elderly mother, with very little in the way of pleasure to brighten her days.

When a young woman contacts the paper to say that she believes her daughter to be the result of a virgin birth, it falls to Jean to take on the story of Gretchen and her daughter Margaret, and discover whether the story could possibly be true.

But once Jean meets the Tilburys - Gretchen, Margaret, and Gretchen's husband Howard - her life and happiness become strangely intertwined with theirs. She makes a friend in Gretchen, becomes an aunt figure to the endearing Margaret, and finds herself falling for the gentle wit and charm of Howard - and if she is not mistaken, Gretchen seems to be pushing her and Howard together.

Jean suddenly finds her life opening up in a way she did not expect, but inevitably, there is a price to pay for her new found happiness, and it will be a devastating one.

*********************************************


Small Pleasures is the most gorgeous book, and I fell in love with it from only a few pages in.

Jean Swinney makes for a sympathetic character. She feels that her life has become very small indeed, and nearing forty, her disappointed love life has left her still living at home with her frail and demanding, elderly mother, with very little prospect of escape. She finds her pleasures where she can - a moment's peace from her mother, a cigarette, handling a small luxury that she has tucked away in the drawers of her dressing table (even if she never intends to use it) - these are the tiny moments of enjoyment she allows herself. She cannot even begin to imagine anything more, and to wish for it would be asking for bitterness to overwhelm her.

But when Jean meets the Tilburys, something shifts inside her. Jean gets a glimpse of the comforts she has not allowed herself to desire - a well-maintained and cosy home, someone to love and care for her, even motherhood - and her fate becomes inextricably entwined with these people who were strangers not so long ago.

It soon becomes clear that Gretchen and Howard's marriage is not all it appears, and Jean and Howard are drawn to each other - seemingly with Gretchen's blessing, as she repeatedly throws them together. Love blossoms and with it comes tragic consequences.

This book is beautifully written by Clare Chambers and draws you in from the very first page, to the nostalgic feel of 1950s suburban London. Jean's repressed longings and frustrations are palpable, and you yearn for her to be able to break out of her self-imposed exile from joy. So when she gets the chance to grab the chance of happiness, the will she/won't she have a happy ending is almost unbearable. I am wary of giving spoilers here, because the suspense of simmering passions held in check between Jean and Howard, their tenderness and genuine love for each other, is divine - but be assured, this book will get you in all the feels.

However, this is not just a love story, because there is a pretty big mystery element too. Gretchen's story of virgin birth is a peculiar one and Jean has to dig deep to find out the truth behind Margaret's conception. There is almost an Agatha Christie feel to this part of the story, as the discovery of the truth revolves so much around the stories of the people who knew Gretchen at the time - those who were supposed to be caring for her, her friends and even loved ones - and Jean certainly has to use her little grey cells to put all the pieces together and the weight of the truth hangs very heavy on her.

This is so much a story about people and relationships, repression and longing for fulfillment, although the time period and suburban setting really add to the mix. Jean has been deeply affected by her past, but we get little glimpse of the person she used to be that show us she was not always the lonely figure we meet at the beginning of the book. It is clear from things Jean lets slip to Howard that she is a woman of great determination, and she has experienced freedoms, especially during the war years. Jean's life has been reduced by circumstance, as well as her desire to live a closed off existence, and her home in claustrophobic suburbia with her cold and irascible mother only highlights her feelings of disillusionment.

By the way, I really enjoyed that this book was set in suburban south East London, as I was born in Beckenham and recognised many of the places named in this book - albeit from a 1970s perspective. For me, this really added to the nostalgic charm that Clare Chambers to skillfully weaves.

This is an absolute corker of a book and one that has haunted me since finishing it, as it is quietly devastating - and there is so much to think about and discuss from this novel (a perfect book club book, actually). But, it is not without its wit and wry humour - and the excited glee with which Jean's editor encourages her to get a scoop about a virgin birth story in the run up to Christmas is particularly funny.

This is one of my favourite reads this summer and I have no doubt that more of Clare Chambers' books will be finding their place in my to be read pile soon.

When Jean, a journalist living alone with her suffocating mother, is contacted by Gretchen, a woman claiming that her daughter is the product of a virgin birth, Jean is swept up into Gretchen's family's vibrant world. But the truth behind the mystery of the child's birth threatens to darken Jean's newfound happiness - with devastating consequences. This novel has so much to enjoy: a gripping mystery, a heart-warming love story and a brilliant central character. This book gave me so much joy during lockdown.

I have heard a lot of praise for this book and was intrigued by the subject - an investigation of the possible "virgin birth" by Jean Swinney, a newspaper writer in London suburbia. But I did not expect to be dragged into the story so quickly and so fully from the very beginning. The year is 1957, Jean is living her life slowly and predictably, taking care of her mother, taking pleasure is small things and daily rituals until the investigation leads her towards Gretchen Tilbury and her family. Ripples start to appear in Jean's orderly life and as she delves deeper into the secrets of the people she investigates.

I was truly charmed by this book and the ending made me gasp. The story was a slow exploration of loneliness and need for companionship, affection and relationships, especially those between mother and daughter. It is also a mystery about what happened to Gretchen, so we follow Jean’s investigation, learning about domestic and social arrangements from that period, especially lives of women. There are also interesting (though not necessarily easy to understand) details on research into parthenogenesis and genetics - a fascinating part of a novel based on the true research conducted in fifties at the University of London. There is a lot of detail in here which makes the story even more appealing. This book was a real treat.

PS. Extra points for the cover and tangerines.

With thanks to Netgalley and Orion Books for a digital copy of Small Pleasures. I have read and enjoyed Claire Chambers’ previous works and was delighted to have the opportunity to review Small pleasures. This is an absolutely delightful book, beautifully observed, laden with historical detail and carefully crafted storytelling. Jean lives with her elderly mother and works at a local newspaper- her life is small, unexciting and predictable. Her mother is petty and restricting, her household tasks repetitive and mundane. Her journalistic duties are equally dull as she incorporates household tips into her page and writes about local lives. Then a letter changes her life. Gretchen writes of her belief that she has experienced a virgin birth. The letter starts a chain of events which affect jean’s private and professional life, send her on an investigative journey and for the first time in her life she experiences love. I kept thinking of the film Brief Encounter when I read this - the evocation of post war life, a feeling of living in black and white, the gentleness of an emerging love affair, sipping tea and climbing trees for apples and in the middle of sunlight a sense of clouds gathering. A beautiful read.

The story is set in the late 1950s focussing on Jean, a single middle-aged journalist, who lives with her mother. She receives a letter from a woman, Gretchen, who claims she had a virgin birth whilst at a convent school in Broadstairs. She is now married and lives with her husband, jeweller Howard, and daughter Margaret.
As Jean investigates the story she becomes too involved with the family, and her attachment to the daughter and husband, step over boundaries.
The narrative contains an element of detection mixed with romance which should keep the interest of any reader. The author does toy with the reader over the certainty of a happy ending and I found the ending came out of nowhere.

I devoured all of Claire Chambers’ adult novels when I discovered them about 10 years ago but then she seemed to disappear so I was really pleased to be given an opportunity to read her new book. It didn’t disappoint.

Set in 1950s Britain, Small Pleasures tells the story of Jean, a 40 something single woman who works as a features writer on a local newspaper in Kent and lives with her ailing, cantankerous mother. Despite being fairly well respected and treated as ‘one of the chaps’ at work, Jean’s life feels empty and unfulfilled, a disastrous love affair some years earlier having made her wary of men and seemingly destined to spend “a lifetime on the sidelines”. One day at work she opens a letter from a woman claiming that she gave birth to her daughter through pathogenesis (a virgin birth), and sensing a story which could life her career from its suburban confines, Jean becomes involved in the lives of Gretchen Tilbury, her daughter Margaret, and, most importantly, her husband Howard.

Claire Chambers’ writing is just as observant, empathetic and involving as I remember from her earlier books. The character of Jean is a familiar and very engaging one, and the claustrophobic atmosphere of post-war Britain was beautifully portrayed. The story is based on research that the author did into a similar 1950s newspaper story and she also ties it into a local tragedy who occurred around the time which brings a poignant and (for me) unexpected ending to the book.

I really hope Claire doesn’t wait another 10 years before writing her next novel, as it was really good to be reminded what a great writer she is.

A brilliant, well written and poignant novel. It moved and kept me hooked till the last page.
Great storytelling and story-line.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I really enjoyed this and found the focus on this was done so precisely. The main narrative was twisty and turny and this had a fantastic element that was both a mystery but also had a soft and gentle tone to it. The epilogue chapter left me with my mouth open in shock as what happened was so expected and i should have seen it coming due to when it was set but it just slipped my mind. The characters were interesting and complex and i loved how they were all fleshed out so well. This was exactly what i wanted from it and i wasn't dissapointed.

I adored this book. I read SMALL PLEASURES earlier this week and was so lost in this world. Chambers is an amazing writer! 😍 Not only is the writing completely immersive, vivid and touching, it has this wonderful storyline that hooks you to the very end.

Set in 1957 in the south-east suburbs of London, it’s told from the perspective of Jean Swinney, a feature writer for the local paper. She is on the brink of forty, disappointed in love and living a limited existence with her mother. 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 herself, her husband Howard - with his dry wit and gentle disposition - and her charming daughter Margaret. But they are the subject of the story Jean 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.

SMALL PLEASURES is a beautiful balance of a compelling mystery with a heart-aching love story. Seriously folks.......this is one to read this summer. ☀️ The characters felt like old friends, the plot is full of twists and the end....just broke my heart in two. 💔
This is my sort of book!! You have the historical element which is a moving exploration into post war London. The mystery of Gretchen’s virgin birth claim, and the emotional pull of characters who are torn between obligation and passion. I gasped at the end but I won’t say anymore.🤫

Read it. Read it. Read it.🍊