Shy Creatures

<p><h3><b>From the author of bestselling sensation <i>Small Pleasures</i> comes an extraordinary story of love, family and the joy of freedom.</b></h3> <br><b>'Clare Chambers is a genius' INDIA KNIGHT</b><br><br><b>'Just as good - if not better - than <i>Small Pleasures</i>' <i>INDEPENDENT</i></b><br><br><b>'As compelling as you want fiction to be' <i>SUNDAY TIMES</i></b><br><br><b>'One of our most talented authors' <i>GUARDIAN</i><br></b><br><b>'Extraordinary' FINANCIAL TIMES</b><br><br><i><b>It all started the weekend the Hidden Man came to Westbury Park . . .</b><br></i><br>Croydon, 1964. Art therapist Helen Hansford is working in a psychiatric hospital, where she has been having passionate but precarious affair with her married colleague, the charismatic Dr Gil Rudden.<br><br>Helen's structured life is upended when William Tapping - a silent, thirty-seven-year-old man with a beard down to his waist - arrives at the hospital. As Helen helps William express himself through art, she becomes increasingly entangled in his mysterious past.<br><br>Inspired by a true story, <i>Shy Creatures</i> is a life-affirming exploration of loneliness, love and the quiet forces that shape our lives, reminding us that freedom can come in unexpected forms.<br><br><b>'Reading a Clare Chambers novel can feel like entering a modest bungalow and finding yourself in a cathedral' <i>SUNDAY TIMES</i></b><br><br><b>'A warm, multilayered mystery with all the charms of <i>Small Pleasures</i>' <i>i PAPER</i><br></b><br><b>'A lively, funny, forgiving novel' PATRICK GALE</b><br><br><b>'Chambers is such a humane writer and this novel is full of exquisite detail' <i>EVENING STANDARD</i></b><br><br><b>'A beautiful story of unfolding secrets and unforeseen consequences' HOLLY GRAMAZIO, author of <i>THE HUSBANDS</i></b><br><br><br><i>*Small Pleasures was a Silver Award bestseller according to Nielsen BookScan UK, 10 November 2023</i></p>