If I loved Small Pleasures by Claire Chambers...

[yoshiblue]

Just finished this book tonight and I loved it. It took me a little by surprise but I really enjoyed the 1950s scene setting and the different relationships involved. Personally, I didn't think it was done in a twee way eg Dear Mrs Bird.

I know a good few of you have read this novel, can anyone suggest anything similar that I may like?

Andrew Taylor's Lydmouth series is set in a more rural and provincial location in the 1950s. They are historical crime stories. The first one is An Air That Kills.

Maybe try Excellent Women or No Fond Return of Love, by Barbara Pym.

Thanks, looking them up now...

Try Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller. It’s modern day not 1950s but still has a similar feel.

The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton is a similar setting.

Try Lissa Evans - Crooked Heart, Old Baggage and V for Victory are definitely in this vein, I loved them.

Thanks so much for the further recommendations. I think I have Old Baggage on my bookshelves....will take a look now.

I read A Single Thread by Tracey Chevalier after Small Pleasures and felt they had a similar vibe, although it was set in the 20s/30s.

1930s - there's a reference to it being 13 years since the end of the war. The single women needing to care for a demanding elderly mother do have a lot in common.

I really enjoyed Small Pleasures too!! Try any Barbara Pym (Excellent Women, Quartet in Autumn are fab) or Elizabeth Taylor (not the actress).

I’ve read Small Pleasures loved it and have since read a few other books by Claire Chambers, all enjoyable. Would also recommend Lissa Evans too and also Nina Stibbe. She has a lightness of tone but really affects you quite deeply. She’s written a trilogy and also a memoir that was made into and a TV series. Yes to Barbara Pym too.

I also enjoyed Small Pleasures and just finished Claire Fuller’s Unsettled Ground. I thought that Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller had a similar feel to Small Pleasures (although a different subject matter)

Can I ask a question? Was she pregnant at the end of the book? She’d gone off her food and felt sick b

You could also try 'The Paying Guests' by Sarah Waters, a crime story about an impoverished mother and daughter who have to take in lodgers'following the father's death in WW1.

Thanks again for everyone's responses. I bought Excellent Women today with Waterstones loyalty points abs have added others to my Wishlist!