Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers

Croydon, 1964. Helen Hansford is in her thirties and an art therapist in a psychiatric hospital where she has been having a long love affair with Gil: a charismatic, married doctor.

One spring afternoon they receive a call about a disturbance from a derelict house not far from Helen's home. A thirty-seven-year-old man called William Tapping, with a beard down to his waist, has been discovered along with his elderly aunt. It is clear he has been shut up in the house for decades, but when it emerges that William is a talented artist, Helen is determined to discover his story.
Love , love , love books by this author , she really manages to get under the skin of her characters and is great at showing people and their imperfections .
Her stories are not always a happy ending but that in itself is very refreshing and what makes a story believable.

Really enjoyed this. Clare Chambers is so good at characterisation and the subtle nuances of human behaviour. I liked the storyline and thought the reveal was excellent. My only complaint is that, having exposed the reveal, there was a whole chapter on what happened up to that point, which I don't think we needed. This also happened throughout the book but not such an extent.

Oh wow what a treat! I had read Small Pleasures not so long ago and loved it so when I saw this book was available on NetGalley I requested it before I read the synopsis! There was no worries though as it was just perfect. The writing style is beautiful and quite like Small Pleasures in style. There is another strong female lead character who, in the post war setting, is not abiding by the gender roles and is enjoying a career and single life; although having an ill advised affair with her colleague. I love reading about this time period, which is before I was born yet still not too much in the distant past. I love how Chambers weaves the stories of Helen with that of William and the flashbacks to the past help us to see the full picture of what has happened previously.

This book is a 5 star from me and I am planning on going back through Clare Chambers back catalogue to see what gems I have missed.

I'm new to Clare Chambers books and "Shy Creatures" is a perfect introduction. Set in 1964 both Helen and Gil work at a psychiatric hospital in Croydon. Parallels are drawn between William who hasn't been seen for 20 years - "The Hidden Man" - and Helen's niece who recently prefers to stay at home. They both bloom in the psychiatric hospital during their art therapy classes. Perhaps these institutions were a blessing? The story and characters are just lovely. Happily read another Clare Chambers book.

No review I write could give this book justice. I will admit that at the beginning I wasn't totally invested in the story, Helen and Gil came across as self centred and selfish but once William was introduced then the words just flew off the page.
It's a beautiful read, a tale of hope and friendship. I loved reading about the positive aspects of Westbury Park, very often books that are centred on psychiatric hospitals are dark and morose but Clare Chambers has given us an enlightened look at the many therapies that assist the residents.
Marian was a lovely character that you could really warm to.
A book that will stay with me
I'm immensely grateful to Netgalley and Orion Publishing group for the opportunity to read this advanced copy. My opinions are my own and not expected

Set in 1964, with a story centred around a psychiatric hospital, this book got off to a slow start for me as married psychiatrist Gil and art therapist Helen embark on an affair. I wasn't fully invested in either character - both felt selfish and lacked warmth.
But things picked up with the introduction of Willliam, admitted to the hospital after the death of his last remaining aunt. A man of 37, he'd been kept hidden at home for over 25 years.
As his story unfolds, and Helen becomes increasingly involved in his recovery, she blossoms as an empathetic and sympathetic character and all the threads of the parralel plots pull together beautifully.
The narrative toggles back and forward in time so we meet William at various stages of his life, but the tragic events of his past are not revealed until near the end of the story, giving the narrative a very satisfactory air of tension and drama.
There was a great sense of time and place with this story, set at the cusp of massive leaps forward in how the mentally ill were perceived and treated.
Moral issues were alo addressed - how far should we put our own happiness before others? Are we responsible for our fellow human beings? But the story was never preachy.
Overall, I loved the characters, the story and the beautiful, descriptive writing. A strong and ultimately uplifting story.

I absolutely loved this latest book from one of my favourite authors. It is as wonderful as the much-loved Small Pleasures. I felt a huge sense of happiness to sink back into her beautiful, clever, compassionate writing and become absorbed in the life of Helen, an art teacher, and William, whose life in a house with his elderly aunts suddenly changes, exposing him to the modern world and his difficult past. I was intrigued by the characters and swept away by the beauty and quirkiness of the world Clare Chambers has created. I loved Shy Creatures and am sad to have finished it. A resounding five stars for an excellent read!

I loved Small Pleasures, so I was really excited to receive an e-ARC of Clare Chambers' upcoming novel! A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

If you liked Small Pleasures, then you'll love this. Shy Creatures is about love, loss, and overcoming trauma, and is a book you'll definitely need the tissues handy for!

What led to William that led him to shut indoors with his aunts for so many years? How does meeting Helen, an art therapist who works at the psychiatric hospital, change his life forever? Will Helen find her happily ever after with her lover, Gil?

I really enjoyed Shy Creatures. As usual, Chambers' writing is captivating, beautiful, and heartbreaking. This was a great read, and I personally can't wait for more books by this author in the future!

This book is a true gem.

I loved Small Pleasures and was excited to read the author’s latest book.

Clare Chambers weaves a captivating spell in her writing. Her ability to bring kindness and compassion to the lost and vulnerable is truly remarkable. Shy Creatures is a beautiful story that is utterly absorbing. The main characters are well-developed, and I found myself fully immersed in their lives, wishing them well as their stories unfolded.

The setting is nostalgic, the 1960s. Yet, the focus is on mental health and psychiatry of the time—institutional care—an area of medicine taboo and scary and yet progressive thinking is starting to have an impact difficult. Chambers writes about this in a gentle, well-researched, compassionate way that feels safe.

The story has a dual timeline. We follow Helen in the 1960s, an art therapist who works in a psychiatric hospital and is having an affair with a doctor. The second character is William, who is discovered in his aunt’s home unkempt and mute and transferred to the hospital. His backstory and the circumstances of his apparent seclusion are gradually revealed. These two characters are so well formed I felt I could lean forward and shake their hands (with William’s permission). Other supporting characters were equally well developed, with special mention for Marion, who steps up to help William, and their relationship is quite lovely.

I didn’t want to say goodbye to these characters.

Thank you, Netgalley and Orion publisher, for the opportunity to read this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Actions and their consequences. Don’t ‘what’s best’ or not doing enough. Unmaking and remaking. And, hope.

“Only the Lonely”

My growing sense, as I was reading this book, was of Clare Chambers' kind intent towards most of the characters in this book. Not in any saccharine way, but she is a writer who wishes the characters she is bringing into being, through her imagination, well. Just as most of us probably wish, whatever life might throw in their way, well-being, resilience and good outcomes for all those we care about.

And when I finished this book, with a sigh of pleasurable sorrow, sorrowful pleasure that my journey with Helen and William, was now over, I was also delighted with the ending, which left me with a certain feeling of wishing well for the rather shy creatures described

And then, I read Chambers’ afterword, which absolutely verified my sense of her kindness, her well-wishing, and her springboard and reason for writing this book. I don’t intentionally ever reveal spoilers, so all I will advise you future readers, is DO read her afterward, as it will warm the cockles of your heart, with a genuine pleasure, I think

Okay, the about. Helen is a young woman, not from the most functional of backgrounds, though a deal more so than that of the second major character. Formerly an art teacher, Helen had a change of direction which really better suits her kind, thoughtful, emotionally sensitive nature. It is the early 1960’s, and in the kind of more progressive changes which were happening in the field of mental health at this time, she has become an art therapist in a large, somewhat open-minded psychiatric hospital, whose management are willing to try art as an adjunct treatment to psychotherapy as well as some pretty heavy medication. Helen is in her mid-thirties, unmarried, though she is having, secretly of course, a clandestine relationship with a charismatic, rather revolutionary, anti-psychiatry psychiatrist (read disciple of RD Laing) Gil is married, and a father. To complicate things further there is a distant family connection between Helen and Gil’s wife.

Gil and Helen in some ways are soul mates in terms of having progressive views, especially around the treatment of mental illness.

William, and his elderly aunt Louisa are taken into care in the hospital following an altercation between them which involved neighbours calling the police. This is a curious case. Louisa was known to her neighbours, an eccentric, somewhat secretive and fearful elderly woman who had lived with her sister, now dead, for decades. William is another matter entirely. This is a man, middle aged, whom no one had ever seen, mute, clad in his underpants, with a beard and hair clearly also uncut for decades. For reasons which will become clear, and many of which will be unearthed by Helen as she seeks to discover his story, he has been hidden away for nearly a quarter of a century. Hidden by his aunts, undocumented on any registers.

In some ways this inevitably reminded me in subject matter of Emma Donoghue’s Room.

This is the second book I’ve read by Chambers, and I eagerly took this when offered as an ARC BECAUSE I had been so impressed by her tender, thoughtful and compassionate writing in another of her books. I am also happily reminded that she has even more books to explore in her back catalogue.

She’s not a flashy writer, but, my, is she good and true, and a writer of nuance and emotional depth

Once again this author brings us deep into the internal life of the main character with her little hopes and fears, small gains, huge losses and it feels so ver immediate and intimate. The reader cannot fail to see every nuance the protagonist sees, hear every snide remark, feel every slight and thereby be rooting for our heroine. Its a skill few authors master and it can make for uncomfortable reading but you cannot fail to be drawn in and really care about her story.
Also it sets the reader effortlessly in time and place, without the need for lengthy explanations, her ability to mention a tea set, a window wound down , allows the reader to immediately grasp the era. MARVELLOUS

A stunning novel from the very talented Clare Chambers. Equally heart-breaking and hopeful, this thought-provoking read is beautifully plotted and the character development is deeply absorbing. Lots of themes around love are explored with tenderness but an unflinching eye: family, romantic and parental. utterly wonderful.

This book is a really lovely read - pretty unputdownable and perfect for a holiday read. Clare Chambers' writing is wonderful as usual, and you're quickly invested in the story of Helen. The plot is clever, the pace perfect, and the ending satisfying. Five stars!

I enjoyed this. I find chambers can put you straight into the decade she is writing about. She writes beautifully and with enough description for you to see the scene clearly in your mind. Love how she bases her stories on true events.

I really enjoyed getting to know the characters in this novel and the slow reveal of why William ended up being hidden from the public for over 20 years. The story is quite poignant and I just kept wanting to read more.

Loved the premise of the book and really enjoyed the story. It’s just a little slow in places and I found I was sometimes reading it to read it rather than reading to enjoy it.

I felt really sorry for Helen in places particularly with her relationship with Gill.

What did enjoy was the different part of the story which wove together to create the whole. Loved as the story unfolded you learnt more about the why

It is the 1960s and Helen is working as an art therapist in a residential psychiatric setting, also having an affair with a charismatic, but married psychiatrist. They are both called upon when a man, William, is admitted to the unit, discovered half naked with hair and beard down to his waist after living for decades in seclusion (or imprisoned?) with his elderly aunts.

What follows is a slow exploration of what led William to this point, with Helen drawn to thinking more about her own life and relationships as these aspects become clear.

The bare bones of the plot laid out like this don't do justice to the novel, which is warm, thought provoking and a page turning read. Family, parenting and romantic love are explored alongside questions about whether or not the damage from abuse can be healed and how.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a review copy.

I found this a difficult book to review. The plot and characters made it a good read but I kept being distracted by inaccuracies. Yes, it's fiction but in her eagerness to set the action in a specific time and context, the author seems to throw in many mentions of real people, places and brand names that distracted this reader, who remembers both the era and the medical context rather well.
For example, there seems no evidence that R D Laing worked at Napsbury at the time this book is set; J Cloths were first produced in 1966 and not widely available in the UK until the 1970s; Anello and Davide brand shoes were not widely known at the time, except among dancers, and the shop was in Drury Lane, not Oxford Street.
For some readers these small mentions may lend authenticity; for me, they are an unnecessary distraction and a good copy editor could have checked them very easily.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

What a gem of a book - Clare Chambers has a gentle, observational style of writing on which I can float along quite happily, bathing in her comic asides and heart breaking back stories. Quite a bit happens in this story but I never felt overwhelmed, and it all makes total sense - even some of most peculiar ways that some of the characters behave. I am very much a fan of this book!

Not my usual type of book but enjoyed it. The characters were well written and the storyline was good. I really enjoyed small pleasures written by Claire and this one was quite different.