Clare Chambers

Shy Creatures confirms Clare Chambers as one of our most talented writers' GUARDIAN 'Like entering a modest bungalow and finding yourself in a cathedral' SUNDAY TIMES Croydon, 1964. Art therapist Helen Hansford is working in a psychiatric hospital, where she has been having a passionate but precarious affair with her married colleague, the charismatic Dr Gil Rudden. Helen's structured life...

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION A BBC 2 'BETWEEN THE COVERS' BOOK CLUB PICK 'Wonderful' RICHARD OSMAN 'Perfect' INDIA KNIGHT 'Beautiful' JESSIE BURTON 'Witty and sharp' DAVID NICHOLLS 1957, the suburbs of south east London. Jean Swinney is a journalist on a local paper, trapped in a life of duty and disappointment from which there is no likelihood...

'A magnificent novel. I loved it to its bones' EMMA STONEX 'Completely absorbing' LISSA EVANS 'A lively, funny, forgiving novel' PATRICK GALE 'A rich and tender story of kindness and compassion' RUTH HOGAN 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,...

A vital exploration of equality and the body from an acclaimed political philosopher. In this thought-provoking, original work, acclaimed political philosopher Clare Chambers argues that the unmodified body is a key political principle. While defending individuals' right to change their bodies, she argues that the social pressures to modify undermine equality. She shows how the connected ideas of the natural...

In the best tradition of Tessa Hadley, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Ann Patchett — an astonishing, keenly observed period piece about an ordinary British woman in the 1950s whose dutiful life takes a sudden turn into a pitched battle between propriety and unexpected passion. "With wit and dry humour...quietly affecting in unexpected ways. Chambers' language is beautiful, achieving what only the...