About the Book
In all failed relationships there is a point that passes unnoticed at the time, which can later be identified as the beginning of the decline. For Helen it was the weekend that the Hidden Man came to Westbury Park.
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 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 mute, 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.
Format: Hardcover (400 pages) Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Publication date: 29th August 2024 Genre: Historical Fiction
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My Review
I first heard about this book when I attended a recording of BBC Radio 4’s Bookclub at which Clare talked about her previous book, Small Pleasures. That was a book I absolutely loved so I approached Shy Creatures with a mixture of trepidation and high expectation. I needn’t have worried because she has created another wonderful story.
Clare is an author who seems incapable of creating one-dimensional characters. Take Gil, the psychiatrist with whom Helen has been having an affair for the past three years. He’s attractive – and knows it – and the sort of man who can’t help playing on it. He’s cheating on his wife and is rather economical with the truth when it comes to the state of his marriage. Sounds a bit of a cad, doesn’t he? But the elements of his character that make him so charismatic make him a psychiatrist who can create a real connection with his patients. And he has a more enlightened attitude to treating mental illness than many of his peers, believing talking therapy is more effective than filling them up with drugs. It’s why he championed Helen’s art therapy as a legitimate form of treatment although, of course, he may have had secondary motives as well.
Helen is wrapped up in an affair that she finds hard to leave behind yet knows is wrong. She’s fairly clear-eyed that she and Gil view things differently. ‘She realised that, for Gil, intensity had always been more important than permanence, whereas she had wanted something lasting’. Yet a shock discovery still takes her by surprise. I really liked Helen. I admired her patience, her openmindness and the empathy she shows towards her patients, many of whom have been written off by society.
Small Pleasures was set in the 1950s, whereas Shy Creatures takes us forward to 1964. It’s a time of change, including in the attitude to the treatment of mental illness with the first glimpses of the idea of care in the community rather than shutting people away in asylums. As always, the author brilliantly evokes the period through the food people eat, the films and television programmes they watch.
As the author reveals, the character of William is inspired by a true story but she has given his story an entirely different trajectory to the real life case. Cleverly, it unfolds in reverse chronological order so it’s only towards the end of the book that we learn the reason why William was kept away from the world for so many years. Although born out of love and a desire to protect him from the risk of discovery, his isolation has had a profound impact on him not just physically but psychologically.
Discovering he has a talent for drawing, Helen sets out to help him return to the outside world through the medium of art. It’s a slow process. At the same time, she starts to delve into his past seeking anyone who can shed light on his story. What she discovers is something dark but it also results in an entirely unexpected act of generosity that is in effect repayment of a debt.
Small Pleasures ended with a tragedy. (That’s not a spoiler as it’s revealed in the opening pages.) In comparison, although nothing is spelled out, the final chapter of Shy Creatures left me with a feeling of hope.
In three words: Moving, insightful, tender
Try something similar: The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
About the Author
Clare Chambers is the author of ten novels. Small Pleasures, published in 2020, was her first work of fiction in ten years and became a word-of-mouth hit on publication. It was selected for BBC2 Between the Covers book club and for Radio 4 Book at Bedtime, and was chosen as Book of the Year by The Times, the Evening Standard, Daily Telegraph, Spectator, Metro, Red and Good Housekeeping. Small Pleasures also won Pageturner of the Year Award at the British Book Awards and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Clare Chambers lives in Kent.
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