Shy Creatures - by Clare Chambers (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"A beautiful story of unfolding secrets and unforeseen consequences, filled with moments that are somehow restrained and astute and gorgeously written all at the same time."--Holly Gramazio, bestselling author of The Husbands

"Infinitely moving, quirky, acutely observed and beautifully written...Confirms Clare Chambers as one of our most talented writers."--The Guardian

An alluring literary mystery full of secrets and lies, when an art teacher at a psychiatric hospital in 1960s England finds her life turned upside down by the arrival of a mysterious patient who has spent decades living in complete isolation with his elderly aunts in a decrepit Victorian house. Perfect for fans of Ann Patchett, Barbara Kingsolver, and Tessa Hadley.

In all failed relationships there is a tipping point. It goes unnoticed at the time but can later be identified as the beginning of the decline. For Helen it was the weekend that the Hidden Man came to Westbury Park...

The London suburb of Croydon,1964: Helen Hansford is unmarried and in her thirties. Something of a disappointment to her middle-class parents, she's an art therapist at the Westbury Park psychiatric hospital, where she has been having a rebellious love affair with her colleague Gil, a dashing but married doctor.

One spring afternoon they receive a call about a disturbance at a derelict, vine-covered Victorian house a few miles up the road. There the police find a mute, thirty-seven-year-old man called William Tapping, his hair and beard down to his waist. It appears he lives in the old house with his elderly, frail aunt, who expires as soon as she's admitted to the hospital. No one knows why William has been shut away for decades, unseen by neighbors, with only his two now-deceased aunts for company. Westbury Park becomes his refuge.

When it emerges that William is not only sane but a talented artist, Helen comes to see him as something of a personal project. But as she tries to solve the puzzle of the Hidden Man's past, Helen's own carefully constructed life of secrets begins to unravel...

A gorgeously written and life-affirming novel about life's delicate layers of experience and connection, Shy Creatures reveals all the different ways we can be confined...and liberated.

Review Quotes

"Clare Chambers is an author to read, enjoy, and watch out for. A worthy descendant of Barbara Pym, with her own intentions and style, Chambers is crafting straightforward narrative that's old-fashioned in the best, fad-defying way. Sometimes, it's daring to be quiet." - Washington Independent Review of Books

"[A] life-affirming, ultimately joy-filled and soul-satisfying novel. Clare Chambers is a gifted wordsmith whose Shy Creatures shimmers, glows and charms as its secrets, lies and mysteries are deftly revealed. This exceptional novel is perfect for book clubs. Fans of writers of character-driven books such as Helen Simonson, Frederik Backman, Jacqueline Winspear, Sir Alexander McCall Smith, Monica Wood, and many more might very well embrace this novel with evangelistic fervor."

"Gripping...penetrates the secret hopes and passionate inner lives of ordinary working people. The characters provoke so much empathy, readers may have trouble remembering that they're fictional." - Booklist on Small Pleasures

"There's compassion and quiet humour to be found in this tale of a putative virgin birth in postwar suburban London... Chambers's eye for drab, undemonstrative details achieves a Larkin-esque lucidity... The postwar suburban milieu of Chambers's work has drawn comparisons to Barbara Pym, although perhaps a closer parallel could be made with Anita Brookner, with whom she shares an interest in intelligent, isolated women destabilised by the effects of an unexpected and unsustainable love affair." - Alfred Hickling, Guardian (UK), on Small Pleasures

"I loved this novel, which simmers with repressed emotions, and the gut punch of an ending really stayed with me." - Jo Finney, Good Housekeeping Book of the Month, on Small Pleasures

"Small Pleasures is a tender and heart-rending tale that will draw you in from the first page and keep you gripped until the very end. Exquisitely compelling!" - Ruth Hogan, author of The Keeper of Lost Things

"A beautiful story of unfolding secrets and unforeseen consequences, filled with moments that are somehow restrained and astute and gorgeously written all at the same time." - Holly Gramazio, author of The Husbands

"Infinitely moving, quirky, acutely observed and beautifully written...Confirms Clare Chambers as one of our most talented writers. - The Guardian

"With wit and dry humor...quietly affecting in unexpected ways. Chambers' language is beautiful, achieving what only the most skilled writers can: big pleasure wrought from small details." - New York Times on Small Pleasures