I found chapters to be too wordy. Found the story line all over the place.
Thoughts was a love story.

In 1950s East London, Jean Swinney leads a very uniformed life. She gets up, goes to work at the newspaper, and then goes home to take care of her shut in mother. When the newspaper receives an odd letter from a woman (Gretchen) claiming she had a baby without conception, Jean takes on the case. What starts out as an easy article she will write, turns into a life changing event for Jean as she becomes closer to Gretchen and her family, especially her husband.

Chambers paints post WWII London/England vividly and gives us a great main character in Jean who is over 40 (something lacking in modern literature). Although I did repeat many times throughout the book "oh this is not going to end well." I enjoyed the mystery and didn't see the ending coming.

This is a heart warming story taken from a 1950's train accident in the UK. A small town reporter investigates a women who insisted that she had a virgin birth. The reporter becomes involved with the family and friendship and heartbreak develops.

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers is a beautiful love story at its core but there is so much going on that it is easily pushed to the side. Jean Swinney worked at a regional newspaper. She could not really be called a reporter: she did the women's columns: cooking gardening, et al. Occasionally there can a story that was uniquely female and she was selected to follow up on it. This was just such a story. As a follow up to a story about a scientist who believed it was theoretically possible for a female to produce a child without male intervention. Within days a letter arrived from a woman who believed she had produced such a child. Jean was assigned to investigate her claims so off she went. A great many things happened in the weeks that followed.

Jean was a wonderful character who believed herself to be middle-aged and on the shelf at not quite forty. This was 1957 so I suppose a great many people felt that way. Since she felt it, she looked it. Coming into contact with the Tilbury family changed her life in so many ways, she became a different person. Sadly, one of the reasons her life was a sad as it was was her mother, who had decided to be an invalid and so was. This is a lovely story that pulled at my heart. So many people in it were in the wrong spots in their lives, or maybe in the wrong lives. It is hard to describe without giving away too much of the story. Please read it.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Small Pleasures by Harper Collins, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #harpercollins #smallpleasures #clarechambers

This historical romance is set in 1957 in the suburbs of London. The author skillfully incorporated two historical events into the narrative and provided much period detail. Jean Swinney was the feature writer at her local paper. She led a lonely life with her demanding mother and had suffered a romantic breakup. Her life began to change when Gretchen Tilbury contacted the paper claiming her daughter Margaret was the result of a virgin birth. Jean was assigned to investigate whether the claim was a fraud or a miracle. Jean becomes personally involved with the family, falling in love with Gretchen’s husband Howard. The mystery of Margaret’s birth is quite compelling. The author is skilled at bringing the secrets and sadness of these well written characters to life. The ending is heartbreaking.

I enjoyed the book and found it warm and interesting. I could identify with the main character, Jean, in a job for years as a reporter and finally got a story of interest. Gretchen claimed that her daughter was conceived without a male. We get to know Jean's life and her pattern of living as she takes care of her mother. At the same time we become introduced to Gretchen and her family and see the inter-play between Gretchen's family and Jean. They become more connected as they go through tests to support Gretchen's claim. The ending was a disappointment - they concluded without feeling in a final few paragraphs.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy which isn't so advanced anymore.

I am surprised that it only took me two months to finish reading this book. It felt way longer, and I don't mean that in a bad way. Other books got in the way of me finishing this one in a timely manner.

I enjoyed this book. It wasn't the most exciting or action packed, but I felt like it was very well written and the subject was interesting to me. At first the main character Jean reminded me of Eleanor from Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. As the story progressed though, I saw the similarities less and less.

And man the ending....

I did not complete this book. I found it be slow and did not connect personally with any of the characters, the setting or the time period.

The book takes place in the 1950's, in London. Jean Swinney is a journalist and also lives with her aging mother and her life is on is on the dull side. The paper receives a letter from a woman claiming that the birth of her daughter was a virgin birth. Jean is assigned to investigate the woman. Jean becomes friends with the woman, Gretchen and her daughter, Margaret. The book is well written, part mystery, part love story. I really enjoyed reading this. I was provided an ARC via netgalley.

Thank you William Morrow for gifting me an eARC of this novel via NetGalley to review. I have mixed feelings after finishing this novel.

Things I liked:
- The way you feel transported into the time period...I felt like I was watching an episode of Call the Midwife, but following a journalist instead.
- The main character, Jean, was the one well-rounded character who was humanly flawed, and thus relatable

Things I did not like:
- The way the character of Martha was portrayed (I'll just leave it at that to avoid spoilers)
- The abrupt ending felt like it belonged in a literary fiction novel, and did not seem appropriate for a novel like this.

This book is available now.

3.5 stars rounded down. Obviously going into it you know the end will tie up with a true life British railways disaster, but how it will affect the characters is unclear. This ending derailed (🤦‍♀️) this solid 4 stars book for me and I'm knocking it down to 3.5. Unfortunately a well written and beautifully developed story is ruined for me with a terrible ending.

*Thank you to Custom House Books for sending me an advance copy of this title in exchange for an honest review!*

I really wanted to like “Small Pleasures.” It follows a thirty-something journalist named Jean for a local paper outside of London as she explores a mysterious claim that a local woman experienced a virgin birth. Great set-up, great historical details. I was excited!

However, none of the characters here developed past their initial stereotypes (special shout out to Jean’s mother for being absolutely insufferable from start to finish with no redeeming qualities.) A plot twist involving two queer characters serves only to transform them into stereotypical predatory villains. The romance involving Jean and a man with no apparent personality was sweet but never made me feel invested. The final reveal to our virgin mystery was offensive and unproductive on so many fronts I can’t even get into it…

And finally, the ending! What a horrible waste of an ending! It really felt like a soap opera script rather than the literary fiction I thought we’d been building toward. All in all, I am deeply troubled that this book was published in 2020 and received awards given all of the issues mentioned above.

Sorry y’all, this was such a miss for me.

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers fills a slot in my reading dance card usually reserved for Ann Patchett or Joanne Trollope. This is a book that serves up all the emotions of life: hope, fear, disappointment, resignation, responsibility & love. The central love triangle of the story -- a spinster journalist, a young beautiful seamstress and a decent if unremarkable jeweler -- is both heartbreaking and uplifting. And the story that bring them all together, a possible virgin birth, is doomed from the start but you find yourself rooting for the miracle. The writing is sharp and free of sentimentality, much like Jean, the journalist. A wonderful book club pick for readers looking for complex characters and the consequences of life choices.

Went into thinking the story was one thing when it is actually a quiet story about relationships. Story of a journalist who becomes to involved in the life of the subject she is covering.

I love books that feature journalists so this one already had something going for it. Jean is a feature writer at the local paper, and then she is contacted by a woman who claims her daughter is the result of a virgin birth. Is she for real or a fraud. I loved this until the end. What the heck happened? Would've been 5 stars with a different ending.

A lovely quiet novel of loneliness and duty with an unusual mystery and a surprising love affair thrown in. Told with simple prose and keenly observed period detail, I was swept along with the story. It’s a beautifully written 50’s suburban period piece, where Jean, a young journalist who takes care of her ailing mother, investigates the possibility of a woman’s virgin birth after receiving an intriguing letter to her local paper. An enjoyable surprise.

I guess in the mid 1950's you could still believe in the Immaculate Conception in someone other than Mary. Scientists call it parthenogenesis. The whole story revolves around this but it is also a very moving love story.
Jean is a feature writer for a local newspaper. When she isn't at work she is home taking care of her frail elderly mother. She really has no excitement in her life. Along comes Gretchen who claims that she became pregnant while in a convalescent home. She says the Nuns there were so protective there wan no way an unsupervised male would be allowed anywhere near the patients. Jean gets approval from her boss to investigate this story. While in the midst of doing this Jean falls in love with Gretchen's family. Margaret is the daughter and Howard is the husband. Gretchen has an agenda of her own and keeps pushing Jean and Howard together and they develop a passionate love for one another. This story was a little unbelievable for me but it was very well written. I would say to pay attention to the very beginning of the book about an article in the paper regarding a train wreck. It does come back to haunt you.

I was intrigued by the premise of this novel, I had never read a Clare Chambers novel, and I liked how it seemed different than something I would usually read. Before reading, I discovered that this novel had been a huge hit in Great Britain during the summer of 2020, was named Best Book of the Year by a few publications there, and is longlisted for the #womensprizeforfiction.

Chambers’ writing immediately struck me as so clear, descriptive, and eloquent. The story development, however, seemed slow. The premise -- Gretchen Tillsbury’s claim to have experienced a virgin birth -- comes up fairly soon. The historical and medical background regarding this, known as parthenogenesis, was fascinating. However, the character development of journalist Jean Swinney seemed to mimic the character herself: somewhat humdrum. And while I definitely ended up with an understanding of Jean and how her life led her to where she is, I didn’t develop such a solid understanding or appreciation of the other pivotal characters: Gretchen, her husband Howard, Martha, or Margaret. I understood them at the point they were introduced, but as far as future decisions, relationships, etc., I didn’t feel a strong connection among the characters nor did I feel very much invested in them.

Now, the ending. I don’t know if this is because I read this novel over a week’s time (rather than in a few sittings), or if I’m not as attentive a reader as I thought, but I wouldn’t have clued into the ending had the author not expounded on it in the Afterword. I then had to reread the news article that was printed just before Chapter 1. I don’t really like the ending, especially for the characters’ sakes, but I appreciate the historical connection involved in the ending and how the news story of it impacted the publication of an article Jean wrote.

Despite my feelings about character development and the ending, I am still intrigued by Clare Chambers’ writing and would like to read her other novels.

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.

Thank you to the publisher Custom House/ William Morrow for the giveaway. This was a pretty good book. Most of the characters were likable and the story moved along quickly.