Set in 1957, Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers follows the story of Jean Swinney, a local paper feature writer living in a London suburb. About to turn 40, she is disappointed with life and love, living with her mother. One day, a Swiss woman named Gretchen Tilbury contacts the paper to claim her daughter was the result of a virgin birth, and as Jean involves herself more and more in Gretchen's life, she finds herself falling for her new friend's husband. Gretchen's husband is intelligent and kind, and Jean soon finds there's a price to pay for the taste of forbidden fruit.
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