I suppose every home has its secrets. But perhaps theirs had more than most. So muses Helen Hansford, the heroine of Shy Creatures. Secrets, and those terribly British qualities shame, silence, avoidance of unpleasantness lie at the heart of Clare Chambers 10th novel, the follow-up to her 2020 hit Small Pleasures. In a 1960s South London suburb, the Tappings, an ever-decreasing number of sisters living in ever-more straitened circumstances, have hidden their nephew from the world for decades. An uncharacteristic disturbance at the house leads to both him and the last elderly aunt being taken to the local psychiatric hospital. Here, art therapist Helen discovers the man, William, to be a talented artist and determines to uncover his story. Inspired by a 1950s news cutting of the Hidden Man, Chambers imagines both a past and a more hopeful future for William. With irony and acuity, she depicts repressed lives of quiet desperation and unexpected passion for whom the Sixties are definitely not swinging. But humour and compassion weave through portraits that finally glimmer with hope of liberation. In the hands of one of our most talented writers (The Guardian), the effect is gripping - both a mystery to be solved and a testament to the transformative power of kindness.