Clare chambers

In the best tradition of Tessa Hadley, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Ann Patchett--an astonishing, keenly observed period piece about an ordinary British woman in the 1950s whose dutiful life takes a sudden turn into a pitched battle between propriety and unexpected passion." With wit and dry humor...quietly affecting in unexpected ways. Chambers' language is beautiful, achieving what only the most skilled writers can: big pleasure wrought from small details."--The New York TimesLONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION1957: Jean Swinney is a feature writer on a local paper in the southeast suburbs of London. Clever but with limited career opportunities and on the brink of forty, Jean lives a dreary existence that includes caring for her demanding widowed mother, who rarely leaves the house. It's a small life with little joy and no likelihood of escape. That all changes when a young woman, Gretchen Tilbury, contacts the paper to claim that her daughter is the result of a virgin birth. Jean seizes onto the bizarre story and sets out to discover whether Gretchen 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, including Gretchen's gentle and thoughtful husband Howard, who mostly believes his wife, and their quirky and charming daughter Margaret, who becomes a sort of surrogate child for Jean. Gretchen, too, becomes a much-needed friend in an otherwise empty social life. Jean cannot bring herself to discard what seems like her one chance at happiness, even as the story that she is researching starts to send dark ripples across all their lives...with unimaginable consequences. Both a mystery and a love story, Small Pleasures is a literary tour-de-force in the style of The Remains of the Day, about conflict between personal fulfillment and duty; a novel that celebrates the beauty and potential for joy in all things plain and unfashionable.

En välskriven roman med fascinerande karaktärer och fina miljöerChristopher drömmer om att bli författare och hoppar till sina föräldrars förtvivlan av universitetet för att skriva. Han tas upp i kretsarna kring den framgångsrika Londonförläggaren Owen och hans hustru Diana, och framtiden ser ljus ut. Den aspirerande författaren fascineras av sitt nya sammanhang, men plötsligt händer någonting som gör att han bryter upp och lämnar London för alltid. Han slutar skriva och flyttar till Yorkshire där han lever ett stilla liv. Tjugo år senare söker en ung akademiker som forskar om Owen upp honom och Christopher tvingas möta sitt förflutna - något som leder till en livsomvälvande upptäckt. Förläggarens hustru är en roman om skapande och drömmar, olycklig kärlek och ödets nyckfullhet. "Clare Chambers berättar ovanligt trovärdigt om alldeles vanliga misslyckanden, missförstånd och stäckta drömmar, men hon gör det så att man börjar skratta." - Dagens Nyheter"Lågmält komisk berättelse om smaskiga saker som ödet och skapande. /.../ Både mysig och drabbande på samma gång" - Amelia"Underhållande och smart" - Sunday Express"En välskriven, underhållande, lättläst roman med humoristisk ton om drömmars makt och livets oberäknelighet." - BTJ-häftet 10/2022, Inger Littberger Caisou-RousseauClare Chambers bor i brittiska Kent tillsammans med sin familj. Hon har skrivit en rad uppskattade romaner.

1957. aasta Kagu-Londoni äärelinnasJean Swinney läheneb neljakümnele, on kohaliku ajakirja juures uudislugude toimetaja, armastuses pettunud ning elab üsna piiratud elu koos oma sõjaka emaga. Elu, millest pääsemine näib võimatu. Kui toimetusse saabub kiri noorelt shveitslannalt Gretchen Tilburylt, kes väidab, et tema tütar on neitsist sündinud, jääb Jeani hooleks välja uurida, kas naine on tõeline ime või petis. Mida rohkem Jean asja uurib, seda rohkem hakkab tema enda elu põimuma Tilburyde omaga. Gretchenist on saanud tema sõber ja naise toredast tütrest Margaretist otsekui tema kasulaps. Ja kuigi Jean ei plaani armuda Gretcheni abikaasasse, üllatab mees teda oma vaikse vaimukuse, intelligentsi ja lahkusega - ning kui Jean armub, armub ta jäägitult. Aga mees on abielus Jeani sõbraga, kes on peategelane loos, mida naine ajalehe jaoks uurib; loos, mis näib nende kõigi elusid järjest enam mõjutavat. Ometi ei suuda Jean loobuda mõttest, et võiks lõpuks ometi kogeda suurt õnne. Kuid see õnn ei tule tasuta ja selle hind osutub talumatuks.

In the best tradition of Tessa Hadley, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Ann Patchett--an astonishing, keenly observed period piece about an ordinary British woman in the 1950s whose dutiful life takes a sudden turn into a pitched battle between propriety and unexpected passion." With wit and dry humor...quietly affecting in unexpected ways. Chambers' language is beautiful, achieving what only the most skilled writers can: big pleasure wrought from small details."--The New York TimesLONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION1957: Jean Swinney is a feature writer on a local paper in the southeast suburbs of London. Clever but with limited career opportunities and on the brink of forty, Jean lives a dreary existence that includes caring for her demanding widowed mother, who rarely leaves the house. It's a small life with little joy and no likelihood of escape. That all changes when a young woman, Gretchen Tilbury, contacts the paper to claim that her daughter is the result of a virgin birth. Jean seizes onto the bizarre story and sets out to discover whether Gretchen 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, including Gretchen's gentle and thoughtful husband Howard, who mostly believes his wife, and their quirky and charming daughter Margaret, who becomes a sort of surrogate child for Jean. Gretchen, too, becomes a much-needed friend in an otherwise empty social life. Jean cannot bring herself to discard what seems like her one chance at happiness, even as the story that she is researching starts to send dark ripples across all their lives...with unimaginable consequences. Both a mystery and a love story, Small Pleasures is a literary tour-de-force in the style of The Remains of the Day, about conflict between personal fulfillment and duty; a novel that celebrates the beauty and potential for joy in all things plain and unfashionable.

Spännande och varm berättelse om livets små mirakel Året är 1957. Jean jobbar som journalist på en lokal­tidning strax utanför London och får i uppdrag att intervjua Gretchen som påstår sig ha varit med om en jungfrufödsel. Hon svär att hon aldrig ens kysst en man innan hon födde sin dotter. Jean tar sig nyfiket an den märkliga historien, eftersom hon vanligtvis får nöja sig med att skriva om hushållstips, katter i träd och veckans bröllop. Medan Jean nystar i vad som egentligen hänt blir hon allt mer charmad av hela Gretchens familj. Det blir en omväl­vande tid och för första gången på länge börjar Jean tro att det äntligen är hennes tur att få lite kärlek och lycka i livet. Små glädjeämnen är en innerlig och fängslande roman om att se det vackra i det lilla. Ett spännande mysterium varvas med oväntad kärlek, lågmäld humor och underbara brittiska 50-­talsmiljöer. "Egensinnig och finstämd berättelse som tar avstamp i en påstådd jungfrufödsel. Härliga 50-talsskildringar och personporträtt som gör avtryck." - Göteborgs-Posten, Maria Näslund "Små glädjeämnen är en välskriven roman om ett för femtiotalet kontroversiellt ämne, som även innehåller mycket vardagsrealism från samma tidsperiod ... en mycket bra och framför allt mycket brittisk roman" - BTJ-häftet nr 24/ 2020, Elisabeth Brännström Clare Chambers är född 1966 och bor i brittiska Kent tillsammans med sin familj. Hon har skrivit en rad uppskattade och prisade romaner tidigare men Små glädjeämnen är hennes första roman på tio år.

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2021 'A WORD-OF-MOUTH HIT' Evening Standard 'A very fine book... It's witty and sharp and reads like something by Barbara Pym or Anita Brookner, without ever feeling like a pastiche 'David Nicholls'Perfect'India Knight 'Beautiful' Jessie Burton'Wonderful'Richard Osman 'Miraculous'Tracy Chevalier 'A wonderful novel. I loved it'Nina Stibbe 'Effortless to read, but every sentence lingers in the mind' Lissa Evans 'This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. I honestly don't want you to be without it'Lucy Mangan'Gorgeous... If you're looking for something escapist and bittersweet, I could not recommend more' Pandora Sykes'Remarkable... Small Pleasures is no small pleasure'The Times'An irresistible novel - wry, perceptive and quietly devastating'Mail on Sunday'Chambers' eye for undemonstrative details achieves a Larkin-esque lucidity' Guardian'An almost flawlessly written tale of genuine, grown-up romantic anguish' The Sunday Times 1957, the suburbs of South East London. Jean Swinney is a journalist on a local paper, trapped in a life of duty and disappointment from which there is no likelihood of escape. When a young 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. As the investigation turns her quiet life inside out, Jean is suddenly given an unexpected chance at friendship, love and - possibly - happiness. But there will, inevitably, be a price to pay. Book of the Year for: The Times, Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, Daily Express, Metro, Spectator, Red Magazine and Good Housekeeping

Spännande och varm berättelse om livets små mirakelÅret är 1957. Jean jobbar som journalist på en lokal­tidning strax utanför London och får i uppdrag att intervjua Gretchen som påstår sig ha varit med om en jungfrufödsel. Hon svär att hon aldrig ens kysst en man innan hon födde sin dotter. Jean tar sig nyfiket an den märkliga historien, eftersom hon vanligtvis får nöja sig med att skriva om hushållstips, katter i träd och veckans bröllop. Medan Jean nystar i vad som egentligen hänt blir hon allt mer charmad av hela Gretchens familj. Det blir en omväl­vande tid och för första gången på länge börjar Jean tro att det äntligen är hennes tur att få lite kärlek och lycka i livet. Små glädjeämnen är en innerlig och fängslande roman om att se det vackra i det lilla. Ett spännande mysterium varvas med oväntad kärlek, lågmäld humor och underbara brittiska 50-­talsmiljöer." Egensinnig och finstämd berättelse som tar avstamp i en påstådd jungfrufödsel. Härliga 50-talsskildringar och personporträtt som gör avtryck." - Göteborgs-Posten, Maria Näslund"Små glädjeämnen är en välskriven roman om ett för femtiotalet kontroversiellt ämne, som även innehåller mycket vardagsrealism från samma tidsperiod ... en mycket bra och framför allt mycket brittisk roman" - BTJ-häftet nr 24/ 2020, Elisabeth BrännströmClare Chambers är född 1966 och bor i brittiska Kent tillsammans med sin familj. Hon har skrivit en rad uppskattade och prisade romaner tidigare men Små glädjeämnen är hennes första roman på tio år.

Against Marriage argues that marriage violates both equality and liberty and should not be recognized by the state. Clare Chambers shows how feminist and liberal principles require creation of a marriage-free state: one in which private marriages, whether religious or secular, would have no legal status. Part One makes the case against marriage. Chambers investigates the critique of marriage that has developed within feminist and liberal theory. Feminists have long argued that state-recognised marriage is a violation of equality. Chambers endorses the feminist view and argues, in contrast to recent egalitarian pro-marriage movements, that same-sex marriage is not enough to make marriage equal. The egalitarian case against marriage is the most fundamental argument of Against Marriage. But Chambers also argues that state-recognised marriage violates liberty, including the political liberal version of liberty that is based on neutrality between conceptions of the good. Part Two sets out the case for the marriage-free state. Chambers criticizes recent arguments that traditional marriage should be replaced with either a reformed version of marriage, such as civil partnership, or a purely contractual model of relationship regulation. She then sets out a new model for the legal regulation of personal relationships. Instead of regulating by status, the state should regulate relationships according to the practices they involve. Instead of regulating relationships holistically, assuming that relationship practices are bundled together in one significant relationship, the marriage-free state regulates practices on a piecemeal basis. The marriage-free state thus employs piecemeal, practice-based regulation. It may regulate private marriages, including religious marriages, so as to protect equality. But it takes no interest in defining or protecting the meaning of marriage.

Against Marriage is a radical argument for the abolition of state-recognised marriage. Clare Chambers argues that state-recognised marriage violates both equality and liberty, even when expanded to include same-sex couples. Instead Chambers proposes the marriage-free state: an egalitarian state in which religious or secular marriages are permitted but have no legal status. Part I makes the case against marriage. Chambers investigates the critique of marriage that has developed within feminist and liberal theory. Feminists have long argued that marriage is a violation of equality since it is both sexist and heterosexist. Chambers endorses the feminist view and argues, in contrast to recent egalitarian pro-marriage movements, that same-sex marriage is not enough to make marriage equal. Chambers argues that state-recognised marriage is also problematic for liberalism, particularly political liberalism, since it imposes a controversial, hierarchical conception of the family that excludes many adults and children. Part II sets out the case for the marriage-free state. Chambers critically assesses recent theories that attempt to make marriage egalitarian, either by replacing it with relationship contracts or by replacing it with alternative statuses such as civil union. She then sets out a new model for the legal regulation of personal relationships. In the marriage-free state regulation is based on relationship practices not relationship status, and these practices are regulated separately rather than as a bundle. The marriage-free state thus employs piecemeal, practice-based regulation. Finally, Chambers considers how the marriage-free state should respond to unequal religious marriage. The result is an inspiring egalitarian approach that fits the diversity of real relationships.

Autonomy is fundamental to liberalism. But autonomous individuals often choose to do things that harm themselves or undermine their equality. In particular, women often choose to participate in practices of sexual inequality—cosmetic surgery, gendered patterns of work and childcare, makeup, restrictive clothing, or the sexual subordination required by membership in certain religious groups. In this book, Clare Chambers argues that this predicament poses a fundamental challenge to many existing liberal and multicultural theories that dominate contemporary political philosophy. Chambers argues that a theory of justice cannot ignore the influence of culture and the role it plays in shaping choices. If cultures shape choices, it is problematic to use those choices as the measure of the justice of the culture. Drawing upon feminist critiques of gender inequality and poststructuralist theories of social construction, she argues that we should accept some of the multicultural claims about the importance of culture in shaping our actions and identities, but that we should reach the opposite normative conclusion to that of multiculturalists and many liberals. Rather than using the idea of social construction to justify cultural respect or protection, we should use it to ground a critical stance toward cultural norms. The book presents radical proposals for state action to promote sexual and cultural justice.

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.

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 very much 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'.

From the highly-acclaimed author of SMALL PLEASURES - longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021On 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.

In 1976, four students took a trip to the desert. Now the repercussions of the fateful summer are coming back to haunt them. As for Nina, she's having enough trouble with her son, James. But when Hugo, long-forgotten agent of misfortune, threatens to pay them all a visit, disaster seems unavoidable.

Abigail Jex never expected to see any of the Radley household again, and thought that 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.