Member Reviews

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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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 ❤️

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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.

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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!

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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.

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I really loved this book. William was a great character, and I love how the mystery of how he came to be a recluse is slowly revealed.

I also liked Helen and found her to be very relatable. Over the course of the book she grapples with loneliness and guilt over her ill-advised affair with a married coworker and her desire to help her struggling niece.

This isn't a very action packed book. It's more about slow character development. It's beautifully written and very uplifting. Thank you, NetGalley for providing me an arc!

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Clare CHambers takes you through the fantastic story of Helen, an art therapist, who seems content with her current life until she begins questioning her choices and the path she is on. William who is a new patient at Westbury Park psychiatric hospital is a mystery to the staff. He was hidden from the world for years and must be reintroduced as he overcomes past trauma. The author will quickly catch the reader's attention from beginning to end as the all of the characters overcome the challenges in their lives.
Thank you to Mariner Books and NetGalley for an Advance readers copy.

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30-something-year-old Helen is a woman happily working as an art therapist at a mental hospital, conducting an affair with a married doctor, and generally living a quiet, pleasant life in 1964 Croyden (UK). But along comes an extraordinary patient: a silent, shaggy man who has hidden in his aunts' attic for decades as almost a hermit, kept away from the world for reasons that are only slowly revealed. In helping him, Helen's life is turned on end in the best of ways.

Set in a more innocent (or perhaps a more restrained) time, the characters--even when they fail-- are mostly attempting decency. Their optimism (and funding) for mental health treatment and the distance Helen feels from the coming social changes (she feels quite au courant listening to the Beatles so she can connect with a neice) gives the well-crafted writing an old-fashioned vibe, reminiscent of Barbara Pam. There's beautiful character development and well-crafted writing to savor in this subtle, heartwarming story about truth and kindness.

Thanks to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the eArc in exchange for my unfettered opinion. Publication is set for November 2024.

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Clare Chambers’ Shy Creatures will draw you into the story quickly and hold you there until the very last page. Her writing is wonderful as is her character building. The premise of the story is so intriguing. What happened that caused William to be hidden away with his spinster aunts for years? Will Helen, an art therapist working at a psychiatric hospital, be able to unravel his past and help him? These are perhaps the most pressing questions but Chambers gives us such a fuller story! I found so much to take in and think on. How many different ways there are to hold power over someone else. When does love and the desire to protect someone tip over into controlling them? How does status play into the idea of causing someone to submit to another’s wants and desires above their own best interest? Can healing for past trauma ever really come about? Finally I appreciated the conclusion that answered this question for us. This was a wonderful read, so well written and so captivating. I will definitely be looking for more from Clare Chambers. Thank you NetGalley and Mariner Books for the chance to read an advanced reader copy!

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I adored this book about the mystery of William who is discovered to have been inside and isolated for the better part of his life. It alternates between his lived experiences over time and with Helen, an art therapist at a mental hospital. I loved everything about this book - the setting ( psych-hospital in the 1960s and an old manor during the 30s-60s), the characters - William, his aunts, Helen. And the writing! It was just wonderfully written and I appreciated the layout - little glimpses back into William’s life that slowly unravel the mystery then back to Helen’s POV in their present. This was my first book by Clare Chambers and I will definitely read her again. Her sentences and descriptions were delightful. (Also, lots of British words and slang which was so fun to read). Thank you SO much to @netgalley and @marinerbooks for the opportunity to read and review this book! This title will be published November 12, 2024. 🦡🦡🦡🦡❤️@goodreads #21/55

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I thoroughly enjoyed SHY CREATURES, by Clare Chambers. The novel follows two time lines, which skillfully and subtly intertwine. One is set in the year events unfold, 1964. Unmarrried, attractive, and warm-hearted Helen Hansford meets and gets deeply involved with other staff members and a couple patients in her work as art teacher in a modern psychiatric hospital outside London. The other story line dates backward in time, from 1964 when long-haired, bearded and unkempt recluse William is admitted to the hospital through to 1938, as the series of events precipitating his isolated existence unfolds retrospectively. A little bit mystery; a lot uplifting, at times funny, at times sad storytelling, rendered with compassion and excellent writing.

Thanks to NetGalley and Mariner Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for this ARC!

This was such a surprising little book for me! I picked it up largely because it was set in a psychiatric hospital (oops), and ended up kind of engrossed? Clare writes the book from this classic literary, slightly detached voice which I enjoyed from the get-go, and really paints such vivid pictures of our characters. I felt like our main character, Helen, is intended at first to be just your average every-day woman living her life -- and yet the way in which her internal monologue is done makes her feel like such a fully fleshed and thought out character? She felt real in a way that we could judge her for, but also not in a way that made her an uncomfortable character to be following -- the way thriller books sometimes are, with caricatures of horrible people. To anyone who found the premise to be the least bit intriguing, or normally is a thriller reader but is looking for something more subdued but want to follow with that same morbid curiosity - this will be the book for you!

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Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers was not only a wonderful surprise for me, but also my introduction to an author I have never read.
I will be reading the rest of her books as a result of this story.

We are introduced to 2 of the main characters in the first paragraph of the book.
Helen and The Hidden Man.
This drew me in immediately.

The author wasted no time with character building.
We get to know a little about Helen right away, through the initial conversation she has with Gil, her romantic interest. I have to confess, I didn't care much for Gil from the very beginning and my opinion of him only deteriorated from there.
I was happy for Helen, if she was happy with Gil, but I just didn't like him throughout the book.

The Hidden Man, William, is a grown man who lives hidden away in his aunt's family home.
The aunts are entertaining personalities in their own individual right.
We see glimpses of them throughout William's life as his story bounces back and forth between the present and several past time lines.
One does have to pay attention to the dates at the beginning of chapters to remember the context, as the timeline jumped forward and back in the past chapters.

There are several minor characters with their own drama, which were also interesting.
I cared what happened to all of them.

I enjoyed all of the characters and their storylines.
I feel like the story was well written and it all came together beautifully in the end.
I felt sad for the wasted time for William.
I felt hope for Helen with the open ended hint at possibility for her at the end.

This author has such a way with words that I was enthralled by her writing style throughout the book.

My rating is 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.
4.5 because I would have liked to know more about why William was developmentally behind, aside from the obvious seclusion.
I was also a bit disappointed that we didn't have an explanation as to what happened to Aunt Louisa while she was away for the funeral.
Neither of these things in any way took away from the characters, storyline or outcome; they are just something that I would have liked wrapped up for me.

Overall, this is one of my all-time favorite books.
I highly recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Mariner Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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*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.*

Told through the POVs of both the MMC and FMC, you are taking on a ride of discovery, of ones past and future. While the FMC starts out in the past, the MMC starts out in the present. As the story unfolds in present time through the FMCs POV, you are taken back in time through the MMCs POV to discover important instances from his past that have led to his stay at Westbury Park. From start to finish, I enjoyed this novel. The imagery Chambers elicits with her word choice, is remarkable. In a short while you become invested in William, eager to learn what circumstances from his past contributed to his current stay of living. While it's hard to write about an adulterous main character, Chambers managed to do so in a way that did not glorify the topic (though yes, this is fiction), but rather simply as a small detail to the overall story. As this was my first read of a Clare Chambers novel, I am eager to read some of her other works.

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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC. I found Shy Creatures to be a heartwarming and heartbreaking coming-of-age story thanks to Clare Chamber’s lovely writing and intriguing characters. I would recommend it to fans of Sally Rooney and Alex Michaelides.

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This was a lovely book. Clare Chambers really excels in her prose and her characters. I love her descriptions of little things, whether it be the shoes someone is wearing or someone’s dinner, it’s the type of writing that my brain just clicks with, it flows well and is lyrical without getting too purple. Her characters feel like real people, and I enjoyed following them and felt invested in their stories. However, all of that being said, this is still only a 3 star for me. I really think a lot of people will enjoy this, but I did find my mind drifting at points and the pacing was a little slow. I was invested but there were a few moments I felt the need to skim.

ARC provided by NetGalley

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