Small Pleasures
Clare Chambers
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars
4.04
· 26 ratings · 320 pages · Published: 09 Jul 2020
Jean Swinney is a feature writer on a local paper, disappointed in love and - on the brink of forty - living a limited existence with her truculent mother: a small life from which there is no likelihood of escape.
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 (and not unpleasantly) intertwined with that of the Tilburys: Gretchen is now a friend, and her quirky and charming daughter Margaret a sort of surrogate child. And Jean doesn't mean to fall in love with Gretchen's husband, Howard, but Howard surprises her with his dry wit, his intelligence and his kindness - and when she does fall, she falls hard.
But he is married, and to her friend - who is also the subject of the story she 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.
Tagged as:
- romance 4
- historical 3
- historical fiction 3
- literary fiction 3
- mystery 3
- lgbtq+ 3
- summer 2
- drama 2
- women loving women 2
- spring 2
- 20th century 2
- friendship 2
- family 1
- suspense 1
- Add topics
- format - reader age
- audiobook 3
- book 1
- adult fiction 1