When the North Kent Echo receives a letter from a woman claiming her daughter was the result of virgin birth, they send feature writer Jean Swinney to investigate.

Jean is almost 40 and and leads a restricted life with her demanding mother.

But as she becomes more deeply involved with Gretchen, Howard and Margaret Tilbury, things begin to change...

Historical romance novel by Clare Chambers, first published in 2020.

Read by Monica Dolan

Abridged in ten parts and produced by Jeremy Osborne

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in February 2021.

**** Clare Chambers was born in Croydon and studied English at Hertford College, Oxford. After graduating she lived for a year in New Zealand where she wrote her first novel Uncertain Terms at the age of 22. Small Pleasures was a BBC2 Between The Covers Book Club Pick. Show less