CROYDON, 1964. Helen Hansford, an art therapist, is working at a psychiatric hospital. She is having an affair with Gil, an older, charismatic doctor, who happens to be married to her cousin. One afternoon, a call comes in: a man with a beard down to his waist has been discovered in a derelict house, along with his elderly aunt. The man — William Tapping — doesn’t speak, but it is clear that he has been shut inside for decades. He is also a talented artist.

The novel charts Helen’s gradual discovery of William’s story, looping back in time to his unusual upbringing by a houseful of aunts. It explores whether past wrongs can be put right and how far healing is possible after trauma.

Helen, too, grapples with her conscience over her affair, as a wonderful opening paragraph lays bare: “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 Hidden Man came to Westbury Park.”

The story is set against a background of the evolving social changes of the 1960s, and, specifically, contemporary developments in psychiatry. By now, the psychiatrist R. D. Laing had published The Divided Self, but his controversial experiment in communal living was still to come. Some of the more invasive treatments for mental illness, such as insulin therapy and lobotomies, were no longer in common use, and therapies such as art therapy were still in their infancy. This is all played out — with an admirably light touch — via the differing therapeutic approaches taken by the characters.

Chambers took inspiration from a true story for her “hidden man”, just as she did in her glorious 2020 novel Small Pleasures (Book Club, 3 December 2021). And Shy Creatures is just such a pleasurable read: compassionate, perceptive, funny, and tender.

Sarah Meyrick is the Editor of the Church Times.

Shy Creatures
Clare Chambers
Weidenfeld & Nicolson £20
978-1-3996-0255-6
Church Times Bookshop £18