'Exquisite... addictive reading' Anna Maxted.
Clare Chambers was born in south east London in 1966. Her first
novel, Uncertain Terms, was published when she was 25. She has
since written nine further novels, including Learning to Swim
(Century 1998) which won the Romantic Novelists' Association best
novel award and In a Good Light (Century 2004) which was longlisted
for the Whitbread best novel prize.
Clare began her career as a secretary at the publisher Andre
Deutsch, when Diana Athill was still at the helm. They not only
published her first novel, but made her type her own contract. In
due course she went on to become an editor there herself, until
leaving to raise a family and concentrate on her own writing. Some
of the experiences of working for an eccentric, independent
publisher in the pre-digital era found their way into her novel The
Editor's Wife (Century, 2007).
Small Pleasures (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2020) was her first novel
in a decade and became a word-of-mouth hit. It was selected for
BBC2 Between the Covers, and was chosen as a book of the year by
The Times, the Evening Standard, Daily Telegraph, and Spectator
among others. It went on to win Pageturner of the Year at the
British Book Awards and was longlisted for the Women's Prize for
Fiction.
Her latest novel is Shy Creatures (Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2024).
Clare Chambers is a diamond in the dust * Independent on Sunday
*
Funny, poignant and beautifully written - an enchanting book --
Katie Fforde
I couldn't put it down -- Melissa Nathan
A captivating read * Woman's Own *
Warm, funny ... captivating * Choice *
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