Small Pleasures
Artistic
Emotional
Heartwarming

Small Pleasures A Novel

Now available in the US--the dark horse literary novel that has taken Britain by storm! 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. LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION A BEST BOOK OF 2020 PICK: Daily Telegraph, Sunday Times Ireland, Daily Express 1957: Jean Swinney is a feature writer on a local paper in the southeast suburbs of London. Clever but with limited career opportunities and on the brink of forty, Jean lives a dreary existence that includes caring for her demanding widowed mother, who rarely leaves the house. It's a small life with little joy and no likelihood of escape. That all changes when a young woman, Gretchen Tilbury, contacts the paper to claim that her daughter is the result of a virgin birth. Jean seizes onto the bizarre story and sets out to discover whether Gretchen 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, including Gretchen's gentle and thoughtful husband Howard, who mostly believes his wife, and their quirky and charming daughter Margaret, who becomes a sort of surrogate child for Jean. Gretchen, too, becomes a much-needed friend in an otherwise empty social life. Jean cannot bring herself to discard what seems like her one chance at happiness, even as the story that she is researching starts to send dark ripples across all their lives...with unimaginable consequences. Both a mystery and a love story, Small Pleasures is a quintessentially British novel in the style of The Remains of the Day, about conflict between personal fulfilment and duty; a novel that celebrates the beauty and potential for joy in all things plain and unfashionable.
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Reviews

Photo of Emma Cragg
Emma Cragg@ekcragg
1 star
May 6, 2024
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Sienna Nobile@siennanob
2 stars
Jan 8, 2023
Photo of Fraser Simons
Fraser Simons@frasersimons
3 stars
Jun 9, 2022
Photo of Nina Herder
Nina Herder@nurnina
2.5 stars
May 11, 2022
Artistic
Depressing
Photo of Heidi Lowe
Heidi Lowe @heidilowe
4 stars
Feb 18, 2022
Photo of Paige Wanner
Paige Wanner@turntopaige22
4 stars
May 30, 2023
Photo of Cris Bee
Cris Bee@i_am_mee
3.5 stars
Sep 14, 2022
Photo of Hannah L
Hannah L @halue
2.5 stars
Sep 12, 2022
Photo of Ro Grayson
Ro Grayson@lutecephysics
4 stars
Aug 31, 2022
Photo of Paige Weston
Paige Weston@paigejessica
2 stars
Aug 22, 2022
Photo of Jennifer Forrester
Jennifer Forrester@jen_f88
4 stars
Jun 1, 2022
Photo of Vedant Jain
Vedant Jain@vedant
3 stars
Jan 31, 2022
Photo of Deepika Ramesh
Deepika Ramesh@theboookdog
5 stars
Jan 25, 2024
Photo of Sam 🌙
Sam 🌙@samanthatoms
4 stars
Jul 15, 2023
Photo of Ellie Davey
Ellie Davey@elliedavey
4 stars
Apr 13, 2023
Photo of Lucy
Lucy @lucyhull
4 stars
Nov 2, 2022
Photo of Sam 🌙
Sam 🌙@samanthatoms
4 stars
Jun 12, 2022
Photo of Christina Pappas
Christina Pappas@christinaneedsbooks
4 stars
May 6, 2022
Photo of Gabrielle Griffiths
Gabrielle Griffiths@gabri_elle
2.5 stars
Apr 14, 2022
Sweet
Charming
Emotional
Heartwarming
Photo of Cindy Lieberman
Cindy Lieberman@chicindy
3 stars
Mar 26, 2022
Photo of Imie Kent-Muller
Imie Kent-Muller@mythicreader
5 stars
Jan 7, 2022
Photo of Katie L
Katie L@readingthedayaway
3 stars
Nov 28, 2021
Photo of Otilia Marinescu
Otilia Marinescu@otilia
4 stars
Oct 26, 2021
Photo of Regi Szakács
Regi Szakács@regi57
4 stars
Oct 5, 2021

Highlights

Photo of Nina Herder
Nina Herder@nurnina
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