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Reading lists

Where to start with Clare Chambers

Back Trouble

From the highly-acclaimed author of SMALL PLEASURES - longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021 
 
On the brink of forty, newly single with a failed business, Philip thought he'd reached an all-time low. 
 
It only needed a discarded chip on a South London street to lay him literally flat. So, bedbound and bored, Philip naturally starts to write the story of his life. 
 
But between the mundane catalogue of seaside holidays and bodged DIY, broken relationships and unspoken truths, more surprises are revealed, both comic and touching, than Philip or his family ever bargained for. Even, perhaps, a happy ending... 
 
Praise for Clare Chambers: 
 
'Smart, astute, and very funny' Daily Mail 
 
'Gorgeous... If you're looking for something escapist and bittersweet, I could not recommend more' Pandora Sykes on SMALL PLEASURES 
 
'Chambers' eye for undemonstrative details achieves a Larkin-esque lucidity' Guardian 
 
'A funny and moving story with a great deal of style' Daily Express

A funny and moving story with a great deal of style

A funny book which slips in some acute and painful obervations on the side

From the highly-acclaimed author of SMALL PLEASURES - winner of the 2022 British Book Awards Page-Turner 
 
____________________ 
On the brink of forty, newly single with a failed business, Philip thought he'd reached an all-time low. 
 
It only needed a discarded chip on a South London street to lay him literally flat. So, bedbound and bored, Philip naturally starts to write the story of his life. 
 
But between the mundane catalogue of seaside holidays and bodged DIY, broken relationships and unspoken truths, more surprises are revealed - both comic and touching - than Philip or his family ever bargained for. Perhaps there will even be a happy ending... 
 
 
Praise for Clare Chambers: 
 
'A funny book which slips in some acute and painful observations on the side' The Times 
 
'Chambers' eye for undemonstrative details achieves a Larkin-esque lucidity' Guardian on Small Pleasures 
 
'A funny and moving story with a great deal of style' Daily Express

The Editor's Wife

'So charming' Marian Keyes 
 
From the highly-acclaimed author of SMALL PLEASURES - winner of the 2022 British Book Awards Page-Turner 
 
When aspiring novelist Christopher Flinders drops out of university to write his masterpiece (in between shifts as a fish delivery man and builder's mate), his family is sceptical. 
 
 But when he is taken up by the London editor Owen Goddard and his charming wife Diana it seems success is just around the corner. Christopher's life has so far been rather short of charm - growing up in an unlovely suburb, with unambitious parents and a semi-vagrant brother - and he is captivated by his generous and cultured mentors. 
 
 However, on the brink of realising his dream, Christopher makes a desperate misjudgement which results in disaster for all involved. Shattered, he withdraws from London and buries himself in rural Yorkshire, embracing a career and a private life marked by mediocrity. 
 
 Twenty years on, a young academic researching into Owen Goddard seeks him out, and Christopher is forced to exhume his past, setting him on a path to a life-changing discovery. 
 
 
Praise for Clare Chambers: 
 
'Thoroughly enjoyable and very clever' Sunday Express 
 
'Effortless to read, but every sentence lingers in the mind' Lissa Evans on Small Pleasures 
 
'Beautifully observed and achingly funny' Woman &amp; Home 
 
 'Chambers' eye for undemonstrative details achieves a Larkin-esque lucidity' Guardian on Small Pleasures 
 
 'Reminds us of the rare pleasure that an intelligent tale with a happy ending brings' The Sunday Times

Learning To Swim

From the highly-acclaimed author of SMALL PLEASURES - winner of the 2022 British Book Awards Page-Turner 
 
Abigail Jex never expected to see any of the Radley household again. 
 
The Radley's were extraordinary, captivating creatures transplanted from a bohemian corner of North London to outer suburbia, and the young Abigail found herself drawn into their magic circle: the eccentric Frances, her new best friend; Frances' mother, the liberated, headstrong Lexi; and of course the brilliant, beautiful Rad. 
 
 Abigail thought she'd banished the ghost of her life with them and the catastrophe that ended it, but thirteen years later a chance encounter forces her to acknowledge that the spell is far from broken... 
 
 
Praise for Clare Chambers: 
 
'Modern, intelligently observed and highly original' Daily Mail 
 
'This delicious novel is a joy from beginning to end - a perfect novel' Lisa Jewell 
 
'Charming - A funny and moving story with a great deal of style' Sunday Telegraph 
 
'A spirited account of growing up and falling in love' Good Housekeeping 
 
'An intelligent and escapist read - well written, and very funny' Daily Express

In A Good Light

From the highly-acclaimed author of SMALL PLEASURES - winner of the 2022 British Book Awards Page-Turner 
 
Without even noticing, Esther Fairchild has become locked into routine. 
 
Living with her adored brother, Christian, she divides her time between illustrating children's books, nightly shifts as a waitress, weekly visits to her father and fortnightly meetings with her married lover. 
 
Then one day she encounters a face in the crowd which jolts her out of her mundane existence and makes her question both her life and the past that has helped to shape it. Memories she had long chosen to forget begin to resurface. Memories of an eccentric childhood in a large and shabby house, where the children were left to fend for themselves within the loose boundaries of their parents' unorthodox values. A chaotic existence peopled by a rich collection of feckless 'guests'. 
 
And into this shambolic world came Donovan - regularly deposited by his unreliable mother - and Penny, Christian's girlfriend and Esther's idol. Until tragedy struck and shattered their joint existence. But now, it seems, their lives are about to become intertwined once more . . . 
 
 
Praise for Clare Chambers: 
 
'A wonderful novel. I loved it' Nina Stibbe on Small Pleasures 
 
'Effortless to read, but every sentence lingers in the mind' Lissa Evans on Small Pleasures 
 
'A captivating read' Woman's Own 
 
'An irresistible novel - wry, perceptive and quietly devastating' Mail on Sunday on Small Pleasures 
 
'Shines with an old-fashioned moral certainty that is as subtle and refreshing as it is unexpected' Independent on Sunday 
 
'An almost flawlessly written tale of genuine, grown-up romantic anguish' The Sunday Times on Small Pleasures

Clare Chambers

From the highly-acclaimed author of SMALL PLEASURES - winner of the 2022 British Book Awards Page-Turner 
 
____________________ 
In 1976 four students took a trip to the desert. Now the repercussions of that fateful summer are coming back to haunt them... 
 
And repercussions are just what Guy doesn't need: his wife, Jane, is moving swiftly from slightly eccentric to downright peculiar, their three-year-old daughter seems set on destroying Jane's sanity, and now even God's gone quiet on him. 
 
As for Nina, she's having enough trouble with her son, James. He's got exams looming, a new girlfriend with pneumatic breasts and now, it seems, he's on drugs. Nina certainly won't welcome any ghosts from the past. 
 
Life isn't going smoothly for anyone. But when Hugo, long-forgotten agent of misfortune, threatens to pay them all a visit, disaster seems unavoidable. 
____________________ 
Praise for Clare Chambers: 
 
'A wonderful novel. I loved it' Nina Stibbe on Small Pleasures 
 
'Gorgeous... If you're looking for something escapist and bittersweet, I could not recommend more' Pandora Sykes on Small Pleasures 
 
'An irresistible novel - wry, perceptive and quietly devastating' Mail on Sunday on Small Pleasures 
 
'Chambers' eye for undemonstrative details achieves a Larkin-esque lucidity' Guardian on Small Pleasures 
 
'An almost flawlessly written tale of genuine, grown-up romantic anguish' Sunday Times on Small Pleasures

Clare Chambers

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Where to start with Clare Chambers

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