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Shy Creatures
From the author of bestselling sensation Small Pleasures
Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.
Check link for latest rating. ( 13,391 ratings, 1,508 reviews)
Brief Description
'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...
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Shy Creatures
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From the bestselling author of SMALL PLEASURES, a new novel about love, family and the joy of freedom
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Description
'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, it was the weekend that the Hidden Man came to Westbury Park.
Croydon, 1964. Helen Hansford is in her thirties and an art therapist in a psychiatric hospital where she has been having a long love affair with Gil: a charismatic, married doctor.
One spring afternoon they receive a call about a disturbance from a derelict house not far from Helen's home. A thirty-seven-year-old man called William Tapping, with a beard down to his waist, has been discovered along with his elderly aunt. It is clear he has been shut up in the house for decades, but when it emerges that William is a talented artist, Helen is determined to discover his story.
Shy Creatures is a life-affirming novel about all the different ways we can be confined, how ordinary lives are built of delicate layers of experience, the joy of freedom, and the transformative power of kindness.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781399602624
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 29 August 2024
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Contributors:
- Read by Lucy Scott
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 34.0mm
Width: 152.0mm
Height: 232.0mm
Weight: 480g
Pages: 400
About the Author
Clare Chambers's first job after university was working for Diana Athill at Andre Deutsch. Her first novel Uncertain Terms was published in 1992 and she is the author of eight other novels.
Small Pleasures, her first work of fiction in ten years, became a word-of-mouth hit on publication, was selected for BBC 2 Between the Covers book club and for BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime, and was selected as a Book of the Year by The Times, the Evening Standard, Daily Telegraph, Spectator, Metro, Red and Good Housekeeping. It also won Pageturner of the Year Award at the British Book Awards 2022 and was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2021.Also by Clare Chambers
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Shy Creatures
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...Paperback$2500Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
21% offSmall Pleasures
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...Paperback$2200Usually:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Intact
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...Paperback$3200Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Small Pleasures
In the best tradition of Tessa Hadley, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Ann Patchett β 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...Paperback$5500Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks
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