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I’ve seen this book circling around social media for some time now and it was actually longlisted for the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction, and has also featured on the BBC's talk show Between The Covers as a Book of the Week Pick. Yet, I’ve seen SO many mixed reviews about it and during the period between Christmas and New Year, I had a real urge to read it and make my own mind up about it. I also bought a copy from Waterstones which has sprayed orange pages so I mean, it just deserved to be read.
SYNOPSIS: The book is set in 1957, south-east suburbs of London. 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.
REVIEW: This book definitely seems like a marmite book. For some, they absolutely adored it but for others, it seemed to miss the mark. I can see both sides of the argument. Yes in some places it is cliché and I did think to myself during some parts, what is this story? Is it a mystery? Is it a love story? But once you get past the feeling of trying to decipher what the book is trying to be and just enjoy the sheer beautiful storytelling in this book, I have no doubt you’ll fall in love.
Without spoiling the ending, this book broke my heart and it gave me such a huge book hangover. I personally don’t think I would have been so shocked and broken if Clare Chambers hadn’t written the main character, Jean, so well.
The book explores so many things; mother and daughter relationships, complicated love, illicit relationships, a woman’s place in the world etc. I personally loved a lot of elements in this book, from uncovering the real truth about the ‘virgin Mary’ story to the articles that Jean wrote in the East Kent Echo.
I just thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience of this book. I couldn’t and didn’t want to put the book down and I was hanging on every word. I didn’t want the book to end and for me, that signifies a great book! I even listened to a 1950s Spotify playlist whilst reading because I just wanted to live the book.
Come to think of it, I did find myself thinking why the book is named ‘Small Pleasures’. I think because before Jean got caught up in this whole ‘virgin Mary’ story, hers and her mothers life was very basic and quite mundane. However, in their life, they have little pleasures to get excited about - a tasty dinner, a dessert for afters, fresh seasonal fruit, a cigarette (only because it's the 1950s), a hot bath etc and when you’re life is so busy and turned on its head from time to time, you can forget to enjoy the small pleasure in life, like Jean did. Reading the reviews on Goodreads, the ending was marmite too as for some people, it ruined the whole story but for others, like me, it made the book a five star read.
READ THIS IF :
🍊 You’re looking for something a bit different to read
🍊 You want to read a love story with a twist
🍊 You want to be transported back to the late 1950s
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