At 16, she met Peter, her future husband, a teacher 14 years old than her. Small Pleasures had the most absurd (and unnecessary??) Clare Chambers October 8, 2021 The following is excerpted from Clare Chambers' novel Small Pleasures. It is tender and meaningful. 1957 England, London especially but not exclusively, is rich and vibrantly presented, paying off the extensive research Chambers even mentions in her acknowledgments. Small Pleasures is an unusual novel. Moreover, it's storytelling at its best. Which, we learn, is no small feat. The description read: 1957, the suburbs of South East London. Chambers is a writer who finds the truth in things. 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. Clare's first novel UNCERTAIN TERMS was published by Diana at Andre Deutsch in 1992 and she is the author of five other novels. The story brings excitement into Jean's world - if something like this could be true, it would make national headlines. But Jean is, actually, the prototype of a passive protagonist. I went to visit her at her house and listened to her tell of how shed fallen out of favour with her neighbours, took a tumble taking out the wheelie bins and lay on the wet floor of her patio for 24 hours until someone found her. Jean a 39-year-old singles feature writer lands the virgin birth story following a letter from Gretchen Tilbury claiming she conceived 10-year-old Margaret without the involvement of men. The language is clever without being pretentious, and its a good read. Both an absorbing mystery and a tender love story - and the ending is devastating. Will it affect the plot in some other way?). The group all said they loved this book and found it highly absorbing - several readers neglected other tasks because they couldn't put it down. D. W. White is a graduate of the M.F.A. Your email address will not be published. Author One credit a month, good for any title to download and keep. He can be found on Twitter at @dwhitethewriter. 2021 Clare Chambers (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers. 'There are small pleasures aplenty in Clare Chambers' quietly observed, 1950s-set story. Did you like it? This sounds a little Anita-Brookner-ish; I like the sounds of the combination of propulsion with focus on everyday details. The way we word things changes, the way we live has sped up. Jeans internal monologue is not focused on woes. Have you read this book? The other thread that creates narrative drive is the virgin birth story. So, in the first few pages, you already have a dozen questions that keep you turning the page: What does the train wreck have to do with these characters, how will it affect their lives? Both an absorbing mystery and a tender love story - and the ending is devastating. But did we really need that? 8.25 + FREE delivery RRP 8.99 You save 0.74 (8%) 50+ available Add to basket Add to wishlist FREE delivery to United Kingdom between 21st February and 1st March Wordery has an Excellent rating of 4.7 on First, the author opens the book with a sort of a prologuea newspaper article about a terrible train accident that happened on December 6, 1957. Loneliness weakens. 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. Her mother has a strict schedule (bath times, hair-do times, etc) and makes sure Jean follows it to a T. She uses guilt-trips and emotional blackmails to get her way, and as the final touch of her passiveness, Jean is aware of her mothers manipulative ways but does nothing to break free from them. I'd rather not have spent so much time focusing on these final pages because I truly feel the majority of this book is moving and well done. Why? There was a woman that came forward following her paper and underwent tests not to dissimilar to the ones in Small Pleasures. The afterward of this book made matters worse because the author describes how she wanted to self consciously incorporate two historical incidents into one novel. A virgin birth is quite the topic for a novel, especially one set in suburban London in . There were so many obstacles all around, too, which brings us to another thing fabulously done in this book. Moved off her typical work and supported by her editor, Jean devotes herself to researching the case and finding the truth, uncovering much about her own life in the process. She read English at Oxford. But chapter 23 begins with: Jeans mother' was standing at the front-room window (). More surprisingly, she finds herself beginning to develop an intimacy with the unprepossessing Howard, whose lack of fulfilment in his marriage becomes increasingly apparent. Clare Chambers is that rare thing, a novelist of discreet hilarity, deep compassion and stiletto wit whose perspicacious account of suburban lives with their quiet desperation and unexpected passion makes her the 21st century heir to Jane Austen, Barbara Pym and Elizabeth Taylor.Small Pleasures is both gripping and a huge delight.I loved what she did with the trope of the claim of a virgin . Small Pleasures is no small pleasure' The Times 'An irresistible novel - 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 genuine, grown-up romantic anguish' The Sunday Times 1957, the suburbs of South East London. Small Pleasures is, ultimately, a work that lives up to its title. More Information | And most days she felt she didnt. It may be at work, or in the hospital, or somewhere entirely else. No explosions or near-death experiences to jolt the reader and elicit strong emotional reactions, and yet we still couldnt put this book down (most of us, anyway). The setting alone is a wonderful escape from our own big bad reality and the plot - based on a true story of a woman who claimed to have undergone a virgin birth - is both striking and atmospheric . This is the starting point of "Small Pleasures," the British novelist Clare Chambers's first work of fiction in nearly 10 years, and although the mystery of the virgin birth drives the plot. If the significance of the final chapter has to be explained in an Afterword, maybe it wasnt very well thought-out in the first instance. But Jean likes Gretchen almost as much as she likes her husband Howard. She studied English at Hertford College, Oxford and spent the year after graduating in New Zealand, where she wrote her first novel, Uncertain Terms, published when she was twenty-five.. Did Maggie Ofarrell lose a child? Please reload the page and try again. So how did Clare Chambers do it? She won the 1998 Romantic Novel of the Year with Learning to Swim. Theres a sense of familiarity that stems from that, it both endears her to us, and makes her feel extremely real. The accident left more than 80 people killed, and hundreds more injured. The less the audience notices HOW things were shot, the better. 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. Small Pleasures presents itself as a quiet novel something to be read and reflected upon, something that allows you to ponder the impact of companionship on a lonely soul. 08/30/2021. I finished it last night & knew it was going to have at least 4 stars but its still in my head this morning & dya know what, its definitely worth 5 stars. Her time at home isnt her ownits her mothers. Unlimited listening to the Plus Catalogue - thousands of select Audible Originals, podcasts and audiobooks. While the book deals with rather quiet events, the author made sure to extract maximum tension in any given scene. "Small Pleasures," By Clare Chambers. Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers. Jeans contrast between the simple, decorum-focused Edwardian world of her mother and the shrewd, insightful manner in which she navigates a male-dominated career space provide Chambers an organic opportunity to comment on the societal norms and limitations of both 1957 England and, by subtle implication, today. A few months into my role as a local journo, I found myself on the phone to a lady in her 80s claiming to have seen the ghost of Hitler in the local hospital. First, it includes a brief history of theory that gives a broad overview from the classical era to the present, with an emphasis on the twentieth and twenty . Just a warning that Im going to include a mild swear word here - what a bloody joy this book was! Not ordering to the United States? Oh my goodness, Small Pleasures - what a book! Find your local library. Indeed, it is here where her highly accessible prose and eminently navigable narrative technique, while perhaps a touch too risk-averse and clean-cut for some, serve her well vis-a-vis the books raison dtre. You know how modern movies are filled with action and heightened emotions, whereas old movies are much slower, and much more subtle when it comes to huge turning points? Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Its like in movies. BookBrowse LLC 1997-2023. Her own backlist had been warmly received but hadn't given her a breakout success. Heres what Clare Chambers did to make Jean feel so active: First, when she first introduces Jean to us, Jean is the sole woman-reporter working in a male-dominated field. . Chambers straightforward and useful narrative patterning creates an accessible, relatable story that never allows itself to become sidetracked or drawn astray. x, Your email address will not be published. For example, I could see the editorial meetings like I was watching one of those black-and-white movies, with rowdy, loud men smoking cigars, and Jean amongst them, also smoking and being aware shes the only woman there, even though they consider her one of the chaps.. Which one of them is going to get killed or injured in it? Clare Chambers, whose novel Small Pleasures was a word of mouth hit in 2020 before making the Woman's Prize longlist, had feared that she would never publish again. There are some nice pieces of writing here and there, but that's just it. The ending, when it comes, will be one that divides readers. All in all, Small Pleasures is definitely one of our favoritesa book many of our members will lovingly remember for a long time. I should have been prepared for the stark ending, but absolutely wasnt, despite the foreshadow. Which was accurate two years ago until the majority of UK newsrooms moved to homeworking in the pandemic. Membership Advantages Media Reviews In Jean, the author creates a character who strives admirably to escape her cloistered existence. In Chambers's affecting latest (after the YA mystery Burning Secrets), the year is 1957 and Jean Swinney is a single Englishwoman approaching 40 who cares for her demanding mother and lives for the small pleasures in lifelike pottering in her vegetable patch or loosening her girdle at the end of the day.Jean works as features editor for the North Kent Echo.

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