Falmouth Book Festival: Clare Chambers in Conversation

Clare Chamber's novel Small Pleasures was her first work of fiction in ten years. It went on to become a word-of-mouth hit and was selected for BBC 2's 'Between the Covers' book club and longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021. Winning praise from the likes of David Nicholls (‘witty and sharp’), Jessie Burton (‘beautiful’), India Knight ('Perfect') and Nina Stibbe ('A wonderful novel. I loved it’) it was selected as a book of the year in The Times, Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, Daily Express, Metro, Spectator, Red Magazine and Good Housekeeping.

Set in the suburbs of South East London in the 1950s, it tells the story of Jean Swinney, a journalist on a local paper, trapped in a life of duty and disappointment. When a young woman 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. As the investigation turns her quiet life inside out, Jean is suddenly given an unexpected chance at friendship, love and - possibly - happiness.

Clare will be talking to Colin Midson, director of the Falmouth Book Festival, about the real-life inspiration for the novel, and about achieving success having feared that she would never publish again. 

Falmouth Book Festival: Clare Chambers in Conversation 

Saturday 10th September, 6.00pm

Tickets: £7, £5 (concessions) A £1 Poly Fund payment is added to each ticket sold.