Trigger warning for brief scenes of and references to animal death.
Every now and then, I’ll read a work of historical fiction that so perfectly captures how different people were even a few generations ago that I’m reminded of L.P. Hartley’s line that “the past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” Shy Creatures, by Clare Chambers, is very much one of those books. This book contains so much unacknowledged psychological subtext that I might need therapy after reading it. Ironically, a good half of this book takes place at a psychiatric hospital.
Helen Hansford lives a determinedly unexamined life as an art therapist at Westbury Park, in Croyden, one of the many small towns swallowed up by London, in 1964. She’s having an affair with a doctor at Westbury and visits her parents as infrequently as possible. After meeting Helen’s volatile mother, I don’t blame her for keeping her distance. The affair with Dr. Rudden is less understandable, but then Helen has learned not to ask when the doctor might leave his wife and doesn’t question his generosity in paying for her apartment. Our other protagonist also doesn’t ask many questions—mostly because Helen and Dr. Rudden can’t get William Tapping to say much of anything at all. We learn over the course of the novel that William has only left the house he shares with a dwindling supply of aunts at night and only to go into the garden since before World War II.
If this book had been set a couple of decades later, Helen might better understand how her relationship with her parents, sister-in-law, and niece have affected her psyche. William would still be on psychotropic medication but his carers would know a lot more about the effects of long-term isolation and trauma on a person who has hidden from the world for decades on end. It can be frustrating to read about these characters—especially Helen—as they make bad decisions that they believe are the right ones. So many characters are keeping their upper lips so stiff and not causing a fuss that it’s a wonder they can see where they’re walking.
And yet, Shy Creatures transforms into a touching story of healing as William’s past comes to light and as Helen realizes that she can do better for herself by severing ties with the people who are using her for their own benefit. I was surprised at how Chambers balances so many emotions and tones (grief and anger, the joy of making art, finding one’s way after being pushed by parental expectations) from chapter to chapter without giving me metaphorical whiplash. This isn’t a perfect book (someone really needs to slip Helen’s mother some mood stabilizers or something) but it is set in 1964; family therapy and SSRIs would’ve been anachronistic. That said, this book engrossed me and the ending is as much soothing as it is satisfying.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.