A Dry Spell

by Clare Chambers

From the highly-acclaimed author of SMALL PLEASURES - WINNER of the 2022 British Book Awards Page-Turner.In 1976, four students took a trip to the desert. Now the repercussions of that fateful summer are coming back to haunt them...And repercussions are exactly what Guy doesn't need. His wife, Jane, is moving swiftly from slightly eccentric to downright peculiar, their three-year-old daughter seems set on destroying Jane's sanity, and now even God's gone quiet on him.As for Nina, she is having enough trouble with her son, James. He has exams looming, a new girlfriend with pneumatic breasts and now, it seems, he's on drugs. Nina certainly will not welcome any ghosts from the past.Life isn't going smoothly for anyone. But when Hugo, long-forgotten agent of misfortune, threatens to pay them all a visit, disaster seems unavoidable. . .____________________Praise for Clare 'Bleak but funny, sharply observed characters and crisp dialogue make this a great read' Yorkshire Post'Intriguing and thought-provoking' Katie Fforde 'A wonderful novel. I loved it!!' Nina Stibbe 'Gorgeous. . . If you are looking for something escapist and bittersweet, I couldn't recommend it more!' Pandora Sykes 'An irresistible novel - 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 genuine, grown-up romantic anguish' Sunday Times 'Effortless to read, but every sentence lingers in the mind' Lissa Evans

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit

374 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 27, 2000

About the author

Clare Chambers was born on 1966 in in Croydon, Surrey, England, UK, daughter of English teachers. She attended a school in Croydon. At 16, she met Peter, her future husband, a teacher 14 years old than her. She read English at Oxford. The marriage moved to New Zealand, where she wrote her first novel. She now lives in Kent with her husband and young family. In 1999, her novel Learning to Swim won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Reviews

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored all Clare Chambers books. Wish she would write some more!!

[Miriam Barber · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book lost a star because the kindle formatting was really poor - lots of misplaced punctuation marks, hanging sentences and just basic typos. Other than that it was an enjoyable read - the titular “dry spell” referring not just to a heatwave/drought but also the fact that Jane, one of the book’s central characters, has lost interest in having sex with her husband Guy. He, meanwhile, fears he’s losing his faith.

Into this fun old mix come Erica (slovenly but fun new friend of Jane, mysteriously compelling to her) and Nina (posh ex-lover of Guy from their student days, who reveals a big secret) and everything starts coming together and gathering pace.

It was a gentle book, nice to read. I felt like some characters got more airtime than they later seemed to have warranted, and the wrapping-up at the end seemed a bit neat, but it was plausible enough.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another gentle and engaging domestic drama, alternative funny and sad and set in the pre-genetic testing 1990s, from the author of the lovely and heartbreaking Learning to Swim. Bones the dog had one of the greatest scenes I've read over the last year with his less-than-dramatic appearance onstage in The Two Gentlemen of Verona which was so funny I had to read it twice. This author's been on my reading list since In a Good Light which I now want to reread.

[Ellie Wakefield · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t enjoy this as much as the other Chambers book I read last year, but it was a fun vacation read with a very engrossing plot if unburdened with a great deal of subtlety. I like her writing a lot, it’s very funny.

[Emma MacDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

A funny witty yet tragic story.
Made me laugh and made me cry. My third novel I’ve read by Clare Chambers and her story telling style I enjoy so much, the pages keep turning in the same way that a thriller does but without the “thrill”.
It follows two families and goes back to when they intertwined and how they all come out of it in the end. I very much enjoyed the ending, It wasn’t pulled out longer than necessary. I love when a book ends on a nice positive note, not a cliffhanger, but also doesn’t tie up every single thread. Leaves the mind to wander the rest. The title is always something I consider in a book and this one was very witty and on the nose. Would recommend if you enjoy an interesting story

[Bridget Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another fascinating story which has at its core a fateful field trip to Algeria in 1976. We learn how four students came to be taking part and what happened to them all after their life changing trip. As ever in a Clare Chambers book,, there is a cast of wonderful characters as well as both sad and laugh out loud moments. Highly recommended!

[Sarah AF · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really, really love Clare Chambers' writing in terms of getting under the skin of her characters in a very authentic, almost quiet way. She has this ability to write the normal - the mundane even - in the most engaging and believable way.

In Guy, Nina and Jane were three characters who, as parents, were just trying to get by through their uncertainties and self-doubt. I simply enjoyed dipping into their worlds of trying to muddle along when you're second guessing what other people are thinking and tentatively trying to maintain the status quo while longing for something a little bit more. There were wonderful touches of humour, particularly in the sections detailing how Guy and Nina came to meet and the travels they went on with Hugo, a man obliviously attempting to navigate them through sensitive situations with a determined lack of diplomacy and tact, and Nina's boyfriend, Martin.

Both of the timelines had wonderful character exploration and connections but the plot almost felt like an afterthough and what there was of plot didn't especially engage me? As much as I appreciated the writing of these characters, I'm not convinced I'll give them much thought ever again on writing this review and that's not like me at all.

[Jo Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this muddled in the first half, hard to follow the author's train of thought (which I have found with some of her other books). About half way it suddenly took off - great story in the middle of the book - why couldn't it all have been that good? It went back to crash landing again at the end. Not one of her better stories.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pleasant but non-memorable tale of suburban family life.

[Fiona MacDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

My second five star read from Clare Chambers. She’s just such a wonderful writer!

[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Dry Spell earns itself a spot on the middle tier of my Clare Chambers rankings, arguably neck and neck with Small Pleasures but potentially even just under Learning to Swim. In A Good Light retains the top spot while Shy Creatures languishes at the bottom I fear..

The first act was okay but also lowkey confusing switching back and forth between 3? perspectives and two different time frames. Present day Nina and the university days (mainly for the field trip which evoked memories of my first year Peaks field class) doing the heavy lifting.

Second act okay now we’re getting somewhere! I believe this is when we get the Algeria account, might not be fully true but either way Algeria gripped me I would have loved more Algeria.

At this point the acts blur together tbh (not a criticism). But we go back to everyone’s normal suburban lives.. yawn! And then we get the present day reveal of the Algeria revelation, now things are definitely hotting up for our characters, things are getting more interesting and more connected.

And then in true Clare Chambers fashion we have the big 90th minute dramatic event, oh we have never been so back!! (not necessarily true I think this is one of Chambers earlier works, also I definitely accidentally spoiled it for myself by looking at the content warning section on Storygraph for fun, honestly don’t know what I was thinking). I was racing to gobble it all up before my train got into Liverpool Street this morning!

Wrapped up quite well I think though shame we didn’t get more of Hugo in the end. Extra credit is awarded for his aeolian geomorphology interest which was quite a nice throwback to my second year Understanding Dynamic Landscapes module. #Geography4Life.

[Sian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clare Chambers is rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors. As I have come to expect from her, this was a wry, witty comedy of manners with her customary happy/ sad combination. It has her customary twist and memorable but not always likeable character. I shall definitely continue to read through her back catalogue.

[Barbara Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong characters and intriguing story - highly recommend. Maybe a tad confusing in parts so four stars.

[Evm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this and then left it for a while after the first couple of chapters.

The book was quite muddled and hard to follow but it did improve in the final third.

Each character was interesting in their own right. I like Guy and Hugo’s friendship but found Jane frustrating. She seemed to complain a lot about Harriett but did very little to build a relationship with her most wilful child.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great story teller!

[G Dickinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second time I have read this book and I enjoyed it just as much as the first.

[Chris Payne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gentle, meandering tale. Took so long to establish the main characters and their relationship to each other that it was disappointing how pointless it all became. For a plot that contains murder, illegitimacy, frustration and single motherhood, it was remarkable how dull a story it was. An easy, undemanding read that left me with a big “So what?” by the end - the characters were reasonably believable (though their older selves were weirdly inconsistent with their younger) but none of them were interesting. Kindle formatting contained numerous errors which didn’t help my growing irritation with the book as I trudged through it.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read and enjoyed Learning to Swim by Clare Chambers many years ago I was pleased to come across this by chance. Part of the book is set in 1976 when four students go to the Sahara on a field trip and the rest is in the present showing what has become of them. Although there are some sad parts most of the book is humorous with some real laugh-out-loud bits!

[Derval Tannam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was very readable, and thankfully didn't include the standard Clare Chambers twist. I enjoyed it for the most part, but found the Nina of the 1970s and the present Nina difficult to reconcile, and in fact her whole dilemma was incredibly hard to believe! I really liked Erica's character and would have liked to have heard more from her. Not a bad book all in all though.

[Zoe Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This wasn't as good as the other Clare Chambers I've read. But I think it's partly the AWFUL South African accent of the narrator. It is still so so well written, and I still very much like the author.

[Lucy McLaurin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read. Not quite the dramatic repercussions that I thought might come about - but an enjoyable book.

[Karen Goodall · Rating 4 out of 5]

A light hearted and gripping read. I really enjoyed it fit a holiday read. As others have noted, it feels like quite a different genre to Small Pleasures. The minutiae of domestic life is still acutely well-observed, but it leans more towards humour. Novels that flip back and forth between the past and present can sometimes feel disjointed or hard to follow, but I never felt that with this one. I enjoyed the chapters based on the characters’ university days as much as I did the present day ones. All the characters are subtly flawed in some way, something that Clare Chambers does well. Rather than detract from your liking of the character, it somehow makes you like them more. If I was being very critical, Erica felt like quite an under-developed character. She seemed to be there just to be the anti-thesis of Jane. That said, I did actually laugh a lot at the passages where Erica appears. The other relationship that I found slightly odd was the relationship between Nina and James. He seemed incredibly saint-like and patient in the face of his mother’s incredibly annoying behaviour.

The other relationships in the book felt substantial, particularly that of Jane, who is a rather uptight mother, struggling to bond with her errant daughter and who harbours resentment against the husband. In a way it was a shame that we didn’t hear more about the adult Hugo, after hearing so much about him as a young person. Perhaps this was deliberate. Just the threat of Hugo is enough to cause a monumental shift in lives.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. It was humorous and light hearted, but still with enough depth to keep you really engaged with the characters. I will continue to read the Clare Chambers back catalogue and hope for another Small Pleasures.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was one of those books where I almost gave up on a number of occasions. There was just enough interest in the story that kept me going. The trials and tribulations of two families in the first third of the book had very little to recommend it. Jane is married to Guy and struggling with the youngest of her two children. Guy is a newly installed headmaster and no help at all. Harriet is a menace. Nina, on the other hand, is single and has a grown up son James, soon off to Uni. But their background is a mystery, clever how the author keeps you reading to find out what that is.

In the background is Hugo, one of the most horrible creations I have ever read. He comes to the fore half way through in Part 2 when the story backtracks to maybe eighteen years ago when Nina joins an expedition/research trip to the Sahara with Guy, Hugo and Martin. It is here that we start to piece together the background to their relationships in Part 1. I thought here that the novel might perk up, but no. It is just terribly boring. It just sounded like the author had done so much research in this overland journey that everything had to go in. Even the drama at the end of this section was spoilt by something terribly obvious in the last sentence.

So the last part is back to where we were at the beginning where it tries to tie together the threads of the past. Possibly the most interesting part of the book. But for me, the writing seems very plain and ordinary. It's an easy read but could easily have been a hundred pages shorter.

[Allie Cresswell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this book as much as the other one I have read by this author. To me, the structure of the book - by which I mean the sequence of episodes - seemed confusing. I wasn't sure of the time frames as the story seemed to jump backwards and forwards.
Ostensibly, the book is about four students who travel to Algeria, and how events there shape their later lives. Except that, eighteen years on, these four are not the main focus of the story. One hardly features at all, which seemed a shame as he is the catalyst for the others going on the trip. Guy's story is kidnapped by his wife, Jane, and her friendship with a disorganised woman, Erica. The Nina in later life seems nothing life her original iteration.
Having said that, I did find Jane's struggles very relatable, and the middle section of the book, which describes the expedition, was very well written indeed. Not at all the 'comedy' that the blurb describes though. Indeed, Chamber's writing is very lovely, akin to Barbara Pym in her under-stated humour and the small details of everyday life she includes.
I will be reading more by this author, even though this book didn't grab me as I'd hoped.

[Gill Buchanan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the 1990s, we first meet Nina and her son James - about to turn 18. We then meet Jane, who is married to Guy, a headmaster in a Christian School. Jane seems troubled and has a difficult relationship with her youngest daughter, Harriet.
For over half the book I had no idea what the connection between Jane and Nina was and we don’t find this out until we go back to 1976 when Guy went on a fateful fieldtrip to Algeria and Nina went too.
I find Clare Chambers writing very funny and in this novel the scene when Jane and Guy and their daughters go to his parents for lunch is hilarious. They are served measly portions, so much so that usually they stop on route for something to eat so they are full on arrival. But this time they hadn’t. Also Guy’s brother is very much the revered one of the two of them. Poignant stuff.
I did wonder what the point of the story was for a long time but once I got it, I enjoyed it. I thought the ending was a little weak but overall, no regrets that I have now read my third novel from this author.

[Cheryl Burman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointingly, not one of her best for me, although a more sweeping tale in terms of time and geography than the others I’ve read. Which in a way was a problem because it took me ages to work out the timelines – not helped by the fact there are several of them and they merrily come and go early in the book with nary a hint of when. Except 1976. That’s the only actual date given. A lot happens in 1976. Also not helped by an 18 yr old having a mobile phone in what -if my maths is correct - is 1994.
Once I sorted the timelines, I then had to grapple with not actually liking any of the characters. Perhaps the laidback Erica. Certainly not the stressed and highly strung Jane whom I wanted to shake, nor the older Nina who was, frankly, a disappointment on the youthful version (that is, real life!). Guy was a bit too blobby, to use a technical term, and Hugo just plain annoying.
Normally a fan of character driven tales, and having loved my previous two Chambers', this is one I won’t be gushing about.

[Justin Berry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read Small Pleasures and thoroughly enjoying it I was hoping to read another well written and entertaining book. Unfortunately I found this one to have a very slow start with lots of scene setting and for the first third of the book felt like I was reading about characters which I had no context for and were just hard to be interested in.
The second third was definitely the strongest with the characters coming together and the story finally coming together also,the last third felt way too long but did result in a satisfying ending. I wish. I could say I liked this more but it hasn't put me off reading more from this author.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of her earlier books that has been recently republished & rebranded to tie in with her other titles. It felt far less professional than her later works. It was very readable and enjoyable. It felt very uneven & I often had to recalibrate my brain to recall characters/incidents that had been mentioned early on in the book. Often hilariously funny and very well observed, but ultimately a sad story. I wonder how I would have found the book if I hadn't read the memo which is used as a prologue, as it continues an enormous plot spoiler, which the author obviously intentionally wants the reader to know.

[Madison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took me a great while to read which is no reflection of the book - it’s actually a very interesting read. I did feel it was quite slow to start but the overall story was actually really intriguing. All the “action” seems to happen at the end which was something you could tell was coming.

It’s one of those books which I could have very easily have stopped reading after a few chapters as I found it a bit slow but I’m glad I stuck with it and finished the book. Not my favourite of Clare Chambers books but a good one nonetheless.

[Sally Hirst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lives that collide, diverge and then get tangled up again. There are four main characters and the story shuttles between the 1970s and the 1990s. I always find her characters very relatable (if not always likeable). Here Hugo is the one we know least about but is the catalyst for things. The 1970s part of the story is students on a road trip (for Hugo's studies) to Algeria. The 1990s part is showing how the consequences of that seep into the lives that follow. As compelling and unpredictable as I have come to expect from a Clare Chambers. She is consistently satisfying reading.