Small Pleasures

'Remarkable... 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.

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. When a young 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. As the investigation turns her quiet life inside out, Jean is suddenly given an unexpected chance at friendship, love and - possibly - happiness.