Small Pleasures who has been described as

who has been described as 'our greatest living explorer'

as well as battling her own feelings about Strike

a diverse group of schoolgirls

and claims that only Lyra can help him - but is he really friend

who reminds us of the bigger picture while appreciating the simplicity of small moments

Small Pleasures who has been described asClare Chambers 1957, south east suburbs of London. Jean Swinney is a feature writer on a local paper, disappointed in love and on the brink of forty living a limited existence with her truculent mother. When a young Swiss 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. But the more she investigates, the more her life becomes