It was complicated. Gil was an empathetic psychiatrist and Helen an art therapist, both working in a psychiatric hospital in suburban London. In 1964, these hospitals were more progressive than in previous years and the ideas of R.D. Laing were beginning to become popular. Gil and Helen had been conducting an affair for the last three years under the nose of his wife Kathleen, who was distantly related to Helen. Gil told Helen that she was the love of his life, but wouldn't divorce his wife until their two sons turned eighteen. They met in stolen moments when he could lie to his wife, or when he or Kathleen and the boys went out of town for weekends.
One evening, Gil called Helen to come to a house that was near her apartment. There was a police incident regarding a disturbance that resulted in a call to the hospital. At a seemingly abandoned and falling apart house, an old woman in the throes of dementia was found and evacuated to an ambulance. When Helen and Gil searched the house further, they found a man of an indeterminate age, almost naked, whose hair and beard went down past his waist. They were both sent to the hospital. While the male didn't talk, the woman filled in some details. She was the man's aunt, they had been living in the house for decades with his other aunts who had passed, and her nephew William hadn't left the house since the late 1930s-he was almost 40 years old. A few weeks later, his aunt died, and Helen observed that the man was an amazing artist, who did pen and ink drawings of birds and small animals. She traced and found a childhood friend of his, had him visit the hospital, and they actually had a conversation, so they knew he could speak-but he chose not to.
The story switches between 1938 when William was a young student with his only friend Francis at a boarding school, the 1940s during the Blitz, and 1964, when Gil and Helen treat him. We learn what happened and why he was sequestered in that house. And we follow the relationship between Gil and Helen as they become more compromised, and Helen gets an unexpected rival.
I cannot begin to convey what a wonderful novel this book is. Besides being an interesting story based on a real event in 60s London, Shy Creatures is a book that the reader won't be able to put down, and at the same time hate to end because it's so beautifully written. Chambers has a way of drawing you in without being obvious. Each character's story is as fascinating as the others. It quietly holds your attention to its convoluted plot, but not in any way like a psycho thriller where dramatic tension ties the plot together and you can smell the artifice a mile away.
I immediately researched the author and found that Chambers has written several other novels-two were YAs and one was long-listed for the Whitbread novel prize. I just returned from the library where I checked out her previous novel Small Pleasures...looking forward to reading it and deciding whether I've discovered a new favorite author.
Reviewed by Donna Ballard
Publication date - November 12, 2024
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