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Clare Chambers

(b.1966)

Clare Chambers was born in 1966, attended a school in Croydon, read English at Oxford and wrote her first novel while she was living in New Zealand. She is the author of Back Trouble, A Dry Spell and Learning to Swim, which won the 1998 Parker Romantic Novel of the Year award. She now lives in Kent with her husband and young family.

Awards: Nibbies (2022), RNA (1999) see all

Genres: General Fiction, Literary Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Children's Fiction, Romance

New and upcoming books

August 2024

Shy Creatures

Novels

   Uncertain Terms (1992)
   Back Trouble (1994)
   Learning to Swim (1998)
   A Dry Spell (2000)
   In a Good Light (2004)
   The Editor's Wife (2007)
   Bright Girls (2009)
   Burning Secrets (2011)
   Small Pleasures (2020)
   Shy Creatures (2024)

Books containing stories by Clare Chambers

The Sunday Night Book Club (2006)

Awards

	2022 British Book Award Page-turner of the Year : Small Pleasures
	1999 RNA: Romantic Novel Award : Learning to Swim

Clare Chambers recommends

You Are Here (2024)
David Nicholls
"You Are Here is David Nicholls' funniest, warmest and most addictive novel yet. Perfect."

Clear (2024)
Carys Davies
"A wonderfully humane and moving depiction of loneliness and the connections forged between strangers that transcend all barriers, even language."

Music in the Dark (2023)
Sally Magnusson
"A wonderful and moving story, beautifully told . . . an episode of history brought vividly to life."

That Green Eyed Girl (2022)
Julie Owen Moylan
"I so enjoyed That Green Eyed Girl. The atmosphere of city heat and dust and stifling apartments was so vividly evoked. And I was equally invested in both narrative strands . . . I was hooked from the beginning."

Bloomsbury Girls (2022)
Natalie Jenner
"Fans of 84 Charing Cross Road will be delighted."

These Days (2022)
Lucy Caldwell
"Meticulously researched, perfectly imagined, full of compassion and emotional truth."

Wahala (2022)
Nikki May
"I got so immersed in the lives of Simi, Ronke and Boo, such flawed, lovable women, I just raced through Wahala. Nikki May writes so well about friendship, food, fashion and the many ways modern women can stumble in their careers and personal lives."

Dinner Party (2021)
Sarah Gilmartin
"I loved her clean, forensic writing. Gilmartin is clearly a writer to watch."

The Black Dress (2021)
Deborah Moggach
"She really is the Nora Ephron of North London. Such a deceptively light touch, and so funny about the indignities of getting old and all our little vanities."

Widowland (2021)
(Widowland, book 1)
C J Carey
"Clever, gripping and brilliantly imagined - a brave, bookish heroine takes on the forces of a chillingly convincing post-war dystopia."

Moth (2021)
Melody Razak
"Moth is a powerful and moving story of a liberal, Brahmin family caught up in the violence and social unrest of post-partition India. It is written with absolute fidelity to the small rituals of daily life, the allegiances and jealousies within families, and the huge and overwhelming forces of history. Every character springs from the page, involving the reader completely in their triumphs and sufferings - the writer's skill and sympathy are immense. I loved it."

On Hampstead Heath (2021)
Marika Cobbold
"Marika Cobbold writes with such a light, witty touch, strewing the story with great one-liners, but she isn't afraid to tackle dark themes too, and manages to bring even minor characters to vivid life with just a few telling strokes. On Hampstead Heath is a deliciously romantic comedy of misunderstandings and misbehaviour - I loved it."

Dog Days (2021)
Ericka Waller
"A charming, surprising and moving story of three troubled characters' encounter with love, grief, healing...and dogs!"

The Long, Long Afternoon (2021)
Inga Vesper
"Such a vivid atmosphere of stifling LA heat and stifling 50s domesticity - the brittle facades of those suburban mansions with their manicured lawns and maddened housewives. A homage to hard-boiled American crime fiction, but told with a distinctive female sensibility. Lovely!"

The Mermaid of Black Conch (2020)
Monique Roffey
"Brilliant."

The Family Tree (2020)
Sairish Hussain
"I sped through The Family Tree, because I was so invested in the characters and eager to know their fate. The book was much darker and more tragic than I had been expecting - and all the better for it. An engrossing and moving story."

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