Helen is an art therapist at a psychiatric hospital in the 1960's, a time when things were done differently than they are done in the present day. (I had never heard about insulin shock therapy and it floored me!) It was a different culture back then and Helen did not fit the mold of women in those days. She was a working women, she was unmarried and she had no children. This story covers Helen's present time while we also learn about her family and growing up. Intertwining with Helen's story the reader also gets the story of William Tapping. William Tapping is in his 30's and was cared for by his elderly aunts until the last one dies. William was hidden away by his aunts from outside, prying eyes since his adolescent years. Helen plays a large role in taking the reclusive William Tapping under her wing. While Helen is helping William, she faces her own problems and tries to help her brother's family through their problems. This book is wonderfully written and I could not put it down. Besides mental health and art therapy, the book contains extramarital infidelity, molestation of a teenager, murder and homosexuality, pedophilia.

Every now and then, I’ll read a work of historical fiction that so perfectly captures how different people were even a few generations ago that I’m reminded of L.P. Hartley’s line that “the past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” Shy Creatures, by Clare Chambers, is very much one of those books. This book contains so much unacknowledged psychological subtext that I might need therapy after reading it. Ironically, a good half of this book takes place at a psychiatric hospital.

Helen Hansford lives a determinedly unexamined life as an art therapist at Westbury Park, in Croyden, one of the many small towns swallowed up by London, in 1964. She’s having an affair with a doctor at Westbury and visits her parents as infrequently as possible. After meeting Helen’s volatile mother, I don’t blame her for keeping her distance. The affair with Dr. Rudden is less understandable, but then Helen has learned not to ask when the doctor might leave his wife and doesn’t question his generosity in paying for her apartment. Our other protagonist also doesn’t ask many questions—mostly because Helen and Dr. Rudden can’t get William Tapping to say much of anything at all. We learn over the course of the novel that William has only left the house he shares with a dwindling supply of aunts at night and only to go into the garden since before World War II.

If this book had been set a couple of decades later, Helen might better understand how her relationship with her parents, sister-in-law, and niece have affected her psyche. William would still be on psychotropic medication but his carers would know a lot more about the effects of long-term isolation and trauma on a person who has hidden from the world for decades on end. It can be frustrating to read about these characters—especially Helen—as they make bad decisions that they believe are the right ones. So many characters are keeping their upper lips so stiff and not causing a fuss that it’s a wonder they can see where they’re walking.

And yet, Shy Creatures transforms into a touching story of healing as William’s past comes to light and as Helen realizes that she can do better for herself by severing ties with the people who are using her for their own benefit. I was surprised at how Chambers balances so many emotions and tones (grief and anger, the joy of making art, finding one’s way after being pushed by parental expectations) from chapter to chapter without giving me metaphorical whiplash. This isn’t a perfect book (someone really needs to slip Helen’s mother some mood stabilizers or something) but it is set in 1964; family therapy and SSRIs would’ve been anachronistic. That said, this book engrossed me and the ending is as much soothing as it is satisfying.

This unfolds beautifully, every turn of the page leaves you wanting to know more! I loved Helen and the care she showed for her patients and for the people in her life that are in need. It is a book about fulfilling your potential and not judging quickly but really getting to know the people around you and understanding how life experiences shapes your future. These characters are flawed (bc well they are human!) and it was fascinating to learn why

This book was an enjoyable read. I was really curious to know what happened to William and why he was kept locked away for decades.

I thought the reveal of why could have been a bit more played out, but overall a good read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5!!
Based loosely off of a true story of a recluse found in 1952 in Bristol, #shycreatures by Clare Chambers follows the story of a young woman (Helen) who works as an art therapist at a Psychiatric hospital in England in the 1969s when she meets William - a mute recluse found in an old Victorian home with a 5’ long beard living with an elderly aunt and who hasn’t been seen outside in over 20 years. As Helen discovers more about William and the past that has led him to his current situation, the more their lives become intertwined. William has an uncanny artistic ability and memory and has a love for animals and the outdoors. Questions the ideas of imprisonment and freedom and what that can mean for different people.
Well written prose, very English, slow paced, but beautifully rich characters. Time jumps from present to past, but it is easy to follow. The setting of psychiatry in 1960s England as a backdrop was interesting to me.

Thank you, @netgalley and #marinerbooks for the #ARC !

Croydon, England - 1964

Helen Hansford is an art therapist at Westbury Park psychiatric hospital. She is also in a love affair with one of the psychiatrists, the very attractive and popular Gil Rudden, who also happens to be married. Helen is very attuned to the patients that she works with, and strives to help bring out the best in them. While her love life must be kept hidden from all at the hospital, Helen is aware that the affair could end at any moment, especially if Gil's wife finds out. To make matters more precarious, his wife is one of Helen's cousins!

One spring day Gil includes Helen in a strange incident. Called by the authorities, Gil takes Helen to a decrepit old house where an elderly woman and her nephew have had an altercation. Clothing has been thrown from the second floor and draped over trees and bushes. Upon arrival they deal with the aunt, removing her to Westbury Park for care as she is obviously mentally distressed. But to their surprise they find the nephew, nearly naked and sporting a waist-length beard and long hair. He, too, goes to the hospital with his aunt. It's apparent from the start that he is mute, and very confused, not to mention that no one in the neighborhood knew that he lived there, and that he has apparently been hidden for decades.

Careful to approach the new arrival, Helen finds that his name is William Tapping, and although he doesn't speak, it's apparent that he can read, and especially that he is a very talented artist. Determined to get to the crux of William's disability, Helen begins including him in her classes, encouraging his love of animals in his artwork. But why was this thirty-seven year old man kept in the house for so many years? Helen wants to find out, but it may take time.

SHY CREATURES is an amazing story of how different lives evolve, some for the good, and some not so good. Helen's own secret to be kept from family and fellow workers imprisons her in its own way. William, while far from having led a normal life, is also far from being insane. His aunts who raised him probably meant well, but were completely wrong in their decision to keep him hidden. As lives begin to unravel, readers will learn about William's past, as well as how Helen will deal with her own problems.

Don't miss SHY CREATURES, it's beautifully written with incredible characters.

This book was compulsively readable. I haven't found a book that I quite literally did not want to put down in a very long time. It was beautifully written, which is what I expect from Claire Chambers, and the plot hooked me and kept me hooked. I felt all of the emotions at one point or another throughout this book and it left me feeling equal parts hopeful and devastated. What an absolute beauty of a book.

I often judge books by their covers, but in the case of Shy Creatures the badger on the cover was a good sign. Clare Chambers has written a book with an interesting plot, and believable characters, complete with lovely prose. It is based on a real event but Chambers has given the main character, William, a slightly nicer life. Set in the mid-1960s, Helen Hansford is an art therapist in a British psychiatric hospital. There she meets William Tapping who has been admitted after an altercation in a nearby crumbling mansion. He is mute, with waist-length hair and beard, and after he shows an interest in art, Helen digs into his past to find out he ended up this way. The author is an acute observer of the human condition, and with this book, she raises questions of love and protection vs. control and wants and needs vs. what is in a person's best interests. It's a novel about kindness that also raises lots of questions about relationships, identity, and independence. This novel was emotional without being overwrought, humorous at times, hopeful, and compassionate, with a moving ending.

Thank you to Mariner Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. It will be published on November 12, 2024.

Who doesn't love the story of a recluse, living in a falling down home in post-war London? It was more than easy to picture William living with his eccentric aunts - I could picture the muddy boots by the door and the falling down fence and the drafty attic bedroom so clearly. William's story is told backwards in time. Moving the story forwards in time is Helen, an art therapist at a nearby psychiatric hospital. I loved both of their stories and they ways they intertwined. Loved. Will be one of my top ten of the year no doubt.

A tender read about healing, growth, and understanding.

I was deeply invested in Helen and William's characters. As it weaves through William's past and Helen's present day, Chambers reveals what William has lived through. You can't help but love Helen, even when her choices are so frustrating at times. And, it's easy to root for William. I think in the end I left the book feeling hopeful.

Thank you NetGalley and Mariner Books for the advanced E-book!

First thank you to NetGalley for sending an ARC copy of Shy Creatures.

It is a fantastic book on so many levels. Clare describes small details of ordinary life in the the 1960s - which really helps to set the scene of the times, baring in mind it's only nineteen years since the end of World War II. It tells the story of Helen an art therapist in a hospital and William who has been discovered living with an elderly aunt and not know to the outside world.

I love the way the story unfolds from Helens and Williams POV. The story is told gently, but covers many serious issues and how times have changed in it's attitudes to mental health and families expectations.

I think it will be a very popular read.

4.5 stars

I found Shy Creatures to be an enjoyable read, even though it deals with heavy subject matter such as cheating, mental illness, sexual abuse, and family issues. The historical fiction aspect was a big draw for me, and I liked that Chambers showed a more positive side of hospitalization for mental illness in the story. The doctors and staff are portrayed as really caring for their patients and want to find the best ways possible to treat them. Most books in this type of setting portray bleak, abusive mental illness treatment, so this was a great change from that type of story.

Helen and William were great characters, and I loved how they both used art as treatment. I was glad to see both of the characters grow. Helen is finally able to face the actions of her affair with Gil, and William moves forward from the trauma and hiding that he has had to endure from a young age.

The story is told in two timelines, and we get the present POV from Helen, with intervals of William's past. I enjoyed this format, because it gives great character development for both Helen and William. I think Chambers did a great job making Helen a likeable character, but also giving you moments of being frustrated with her character's choices. And William's POVs really pulls on your heartstrings, once the story starts revealing what happened during his childhood and his life following that event.

This was my first read by Clare Chambers, and I definitely recommend Shy Creatures if you love historical fiction, complex characters and a story that has depth and beautiful writing.

This book is thoroughly charming, as I’ve come to expect from Clare Chambers. Helen is funny and clever and just prickly enough to be interesting, and the backstory of William and Francis was doled out in small enough chunks to keep me interested without being distracting from the main story.

I absolutely loved this book. I loved all the characters and all of their back stories. Ms. Chambers had an amazing idea for this book and I appreciate her look into what might have been. I will definitely refer this one to my friends and I will definitely read more of this authors books. Thank you NetGalley and Ms. Chambers for allowing me to read and review this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. This was soo good! I really enjoyed this dual POV story about art therapist Helen, and her patient William, who has been discovered after not leaving his house for over 10 years. Knowing the area somewhat, I loved the setting in 1960s Croydon, with flashbacks to the previous thirty years. There are lots of funny scenes, such as Helen and her partner discovering the Beatles for the first time. I really liked the scenes of the minutiae of daily life, Clare Chambers is really good at this sort of thing without it dragging the plot. The therapy angle was very interesting and I learnt something about the state of mental health treatment in the 1960s - actually a lot of more progressive than I thought!
The reason for William’s condition is drawn out slowly, but each chapter from his perspective still reveals something new. I’d say I still liked Helen’s storyline more and wanted to skip ahead to that at times.
Overall, great read and recommended. I also loved Small Pleasures by the author so now off to read the rest of her backlist!

The vibes of this book are similar to John Steinbeck, and as a lover of his stories, I enjoyed it.

The main character, Helen, is intriguing enough that her negative traits didn’t bother me as much as they do with other characters.

I enjoyed the mystery type aspect to the story and the hopeful ending it has.

The story did take me a little longer to get into but I think that’s because I just had a hard time reading physical books for a couple months.

First, thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review!

Grey Gardens meets One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (if it had a happy ending) with a British flair in this heartfelt novel. The themes of lost time and the regrets that can come with that, but also the hope of new beginnings for the characters really shines through. I will admit that for me, the book didn’t grab me immediately—it took a few chapters to get into the story and used to the layout of the storytelling (present day, then further backwards in time). I’m glad I kept pushing because this book really is lovely. It will be a great pick for book clubs everywhere, and to me that’s such a high compliment!

Also, can we get a little commotion for the cover? It’s gorgeous and what initially drew me to the book ❤️

A sensitively wrought tale of a young man living as a hermit for decades in a tumble down house in the English countryside.


Chambers has set this story in 1964, when the effects of World War II are a not-so-distant memory, and social changes are rocking society. The author introduces us in alternating chapters to two seemingly disconnected characters; William, a bearded, mute man living with his elderly aunt, and Helen, a practitioner of the fledgling field of art therapy. Their paths cross when William is admitted to her facility. While William and Helen are fundamentally different, they share common tendencies and are keen observers of the world around them and Helen is immediately taken with William when she discovers his talent for drawing. She’s determined to solve the mystery of what led to his isolation and to help him heal but must confront her own complications as she’s engaged in a clandestine affair with a brilliant doctor, Gil.

Take for example when she and Gil are out at a clandestine dinner in Chapter 14. The two observe an older couple enjoying an intimate dinner largely in silence and then departing;

“‘Promise me we’ll never reach that stage,’ said Gil, shaking his head. Helen didn’t reply, because she was watching the woman tuck her hand into the crook of her husband’s arm and lay her cheek for the briefest moment on his shoulder as they waited at the kerb for a taxi. Far from despising them, she had been thinking how pleasant it must be to have such a careless abundance of time together that whole evenings could be comfortably squandered without a word spoken.”

In reading the afterword, I was struck by the fact that Chambers based this story upon a real life individual. She has filled in the details of this man's life with sensitivity and nuance and shows us the powers of kindness and resilience are real. This book is not to be missed.

Thank you to Mariner Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on November 12th, 2024.

Note: Thank you to Mariner Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an e-ARC of Shy Creatures!

Rating: 4/5 Stars!

Summary: In 1964 London, Helen Hansford is an art therapist working at Westbury Park, a psychiatric institute on the cutting edge of psychiatric medicine. For the past three years, she has been involved with a dashing- but married- colleague of hers. One afternoon, Gil Rudden, her colleague and affair partner, receives word of a dispute leading police to find a mute, disheveled man named William Tapping, whose hair and beard are down to his waist. His elderly aunt, his only remaining relative, dies soon after his discovery. At a loss, Gil and Helen decide to observe William, leading Helen to discover not only is William of sound mind; he is also a talented artist. As Helen works to uncover the story of William’s life and he came to be this way, she will come to face her own life, and the choices she’s made.

Review: This novel was a slow start for me. This perhaps has to do with me going a bit outside of my regular genres with this novel, but once I was in, I was invested. My persistence was rewarded doubly- triply, even- with beautiful storytelling that seamlessly came together in a way that surprised me as it happened, but felt so natural as I wove all the clues I’d been handed throughout the narrative together. William’s story will, at times, leave you haunted, heartbroken, and mournful of the circumstances that came to shape his life.

With all that said, let’s talk about characters. Helen, though flawed, was a character whom I rooted for and wanted her to navigate her way to a brighter, happier future for herself and those she cared about, such as her niece Lorraine. William, secluded in the home he shared with his aunts due to an incident when he was very young, has never done anything wrong in his life, ever, and I love him very much. I was rooting for him the entire time, and I wish him nothing but happiness in his future after the conclusion of the novel. Their stories, both in the present and going further back in time until the inciting incident in William’s POVs- the novel is told both in Helen’s POV and William’s POV- connect in such a heartbreaking way. Though frustrating, you can tell his aunts loved him and wanted the best for him in their own way, even if the way they chose was misguided at best.

This novel ends in such a satisfying way for all characters involved, and I thank Clare Chambers for that- given her source material was a real story with a tragic end, she chose happiness, and I can’t thank her enough for that.

Please let it be noted that I now ship Francis and Helen, and would like to know the names of William’s spaniels.

Thank you again to Mariner Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC!

This book was a delight. There’s a mixture of sadness and hope with a story centered on a vulnerable, childlike character. I rooted for him the whole book and couldn’t stop reading until I learned his whole story.