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Shy Creatures

Clare Chambers

4.0

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

1 rating • 0 posts

Your rating:

Shy Creatures

Clare Chambers

4.0

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

1 rating • 0 posts

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. Shy Creatures is a life-affirming novel about all the different ways we can be confined, how ordinary lives are built of delicate layers of experience, the joy of freedom and the transformative power of kindness.

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reliures

Mar 10, 2025

4.0

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

4.25 stars.

Historical fiction taking place in 1960s England where Helen, an art therapist working in a psychiatric hospital, discovers with another colleague (who also her lover), a mute and recently cloistered adult man called William who exhibits great artistic talent.

I really liked this book ! The author had an engaging style that read smoothly.

I really liked Helen as a main character, she has her own faults and qualities and I did love her character arc, especially in regards of her relationship status. She also acknowledged her own flaws and tries to do better, her growth as a person was great to see.

Throughout the novel we learn about William’s past through a series of flashbacks that shows his life as a cloistered child until his discovery by Helen. His story was truly sad and you really felt for him, though some parts felt less interesting to me, I really liked how his character ended up at the end of the book.

The various subplots were also well written but I wished we spend less time on them especially Helen’s relationship with her lover that was an absolute red flag.

I also wished the book delved more on the artistic side of William and the art therapy by Helen. I’m not familiar with psychiatry and its history, but it would have been interesting to see more of the patients and doctors.

I felt the 60s atmosphere was represented well enough but I do feel it could have been more pronounced and maybe less idealistic.

Also the big reveal about one of the characters felt a bit anticlimactic.

This was overall a very good story, though not perfect but really heartwarming.