Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers

We travel back to the 1960s with this book, and into a period of time that many people my age look back on nostalgically as 'simpler times', but by the time you get to the end, you realise that a smaller world does not always bring happiness.

Helen is an art therapist in a psychiatric hospital in Croydon, and for a couple of years she has been having an affair with Gil, who is not only one of the doctors but turns out to be part of her extended family through marriage. Helen was taken in by Gil's charismatic personality but after the arrival of an extraordinary patient, she starts to view life differently.

The patient is William who is 37 years old but has not left his house for around 25 years. He had been raised by his aunts who kept him out of sight 'for his own safety', but as they grew older and less able to take care of him, William's condition deteriorated badly, and by the time he was discovered, he was vey much under weight and his hair and beard were down to his waist. He was admitted to the psychiatric hospital as he seemed unable to speak and had very little concept of how to survive in the modern world. This was when he met Helen and she decided to look into his past to try and discover why his aunts felt that they should conceal his existence.

Clare Chambers builds William's story carefully by revealing tiny snippets of information as Helen uncovers more of his past. His life has been shaped by untruths and cover-ups that have been bought about by the Aunts great fear of other people nosing into their business, and a general dislike of unpleasantness. Their father had been a wealthy businessman, and although their home is much smaller, and their living standards greatly reduced, they still retained a vague sense of superiority to other people.

When the book started off with the affair between Helen and Gil, I wasn't sure if I would be much interested in the storyline, but as William's story unfolds it all becomes much more interesting and the second half is particularly gripping. Apparently the book was inspired by a true story that happened in Bristol in 1952, and the author bough it forward to 1964 because this was an important time for psychiatric treatment and also allowed Helen to be an art therapist - something that was only just emerging in mental health treatment.

Clare Chambers has written 10 novels and won several awards for her writing and her book, Small Pleasures was selected for BBC2 Between the Covers and also BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime.

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