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'A WORD-OF-MOUTH HIT' Evening Standard'Perfect' India Knight'Beautiful' Jessie Burton'Wonderful' Richard Osman'Miraculous' Tracy Chevalier'A very fine novel... Witty and sharp' David Nicholls'Every sentence lingers in the mind' Lissa Evans'One of the most beautiful books I have ever read' Lucy Mangan'Gorgeous... I could not recommend it more' Pandora Sykes'Remarkable... Small Pleasures is no small pleasure' The Times'Irresistible... 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 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.