Author:Clare Chambers
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
A masterpiece of dark humour
—— Daily ExpressThe greatest American writers of the last century were William Faulkner and Saul Bellow...As I Lay Dying and The Adventures of Augie March: it's hard to think of two better novels written in this country in any century
—— Philip Roth , ObserverOne of America's greatest writers
—— The TimesA beautiful novel
—— IndependentBy universal consent of critics and common readers, Faulkner is now recognised as the strongest American novelist of the century, clearly surpassing (Ernest) Hemingway and (Scott) Fitzgerald, and standing as an equal in the sequence that includes Hawthorne, Melville, Mark Twain and Henry James . . . As I Lay Dying may be the most original novel ever written by an American
—— Harold BloomBrilliant and compelling...one is constrained to follow to the end
—— SpectatorIn a single brief decade, Faulkner had produced more lasting works of fiction than many great writers do in a lifetime
—— GuardianP.G. Wodehouse is the gold standard of English wit
—— Christopher HitchensTo dive into a Wodehouse novel is to swim in some of the most elegantly turned phrases in the English language
—— Ben SchottWodehouse is so utterly, properly, simply funny
—— Adele ParksI've recorded all the Jeeves books, and I can tell you this: it's like singing Mozart. The perfection of the phrasing is a physical pleasure. I doubt if any writer in the English language has more perfect music
—— Simon CallowWodehouse was quite simply the Bee's Knees. And then some
—— Joseph ConnollyI constantly find myself drooling with admiration at the sublime way Wodehouse plays with the English language
—— Simon BrettQuite simply, the master of comic writing at work
—— Jane MooreTo pick up a Wodehouse novel is to find oneself in the presence of genius - no writer has ever given me so much pure enjoyment
—— John Julius NorwichCompulsory reading for anyone who has a pig, an aunt - or a sense of humour!
—— Lindsey DavisThe Wodehouse wit should be registered at Police HQ as a chemical weapon
—— Kathy LetteWitty and effortlessly fluid. His books are laugh-out-loud funny
—— Arabella WeirThe funniest writer ever to put words to paper
—— Hugh LaurieThe greatest comic writer ever
—— Douglas AdamsP.G. Wodehouse wrote the best English comic novels of the century
—— Sebastian FaulksSublime comic genius
—— Ben EltonYou don't analyse such sunlit perfection, you just bask in its warmth and splendour
—— Stephen Fry