"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.
