Clare Chambers _Shy Creatures_
Just finished reading the novel by Clare Chambers 'Shy Creatures', an upgrade on the trashy chick-lit 'psychological thrillers' I are mostly been enjoying this summer. Chambers was short-listed for the Women's Fiction Prize with 'Small Pleasures', which will now be on my 'read soon' list. How does this novel differ from the trash-fiction? Delightful writing. Wonderful British self-deprecation, wry humour, a flair for words and a marvellously good inner ear for speech, innuendo, wit and tone.
*NO REAL PLOT SPOILERS* - safe to read.
The author says she got her idea for the book from a chance newspaper report in an old Croydon newspaper. She gives the inspirator of her story the name, 'William Tapping'. The tale is non-linear, set in circa 1964 but moves back and forth in chapters relating to 1934, 1937, 1944 and 1947, so we get a glimpse of William Tapping's early life, family and childhood, as the main third person narrator, Helen Hansford, who works at the nearby mental hospital William Tapping is admitted to, as an art therapist, seeks to unravel the mystery of how William Tapping got into the state he was found, aged 37, and admitted into the mental institution, which were only just beginning to be disassembled to become more care-in-the-community focus. Thus, the novel plot takes the form of a quest.
The other main focus is in Helen Hansford's affair with married hospital doctor (psychiatrist) Dr.Gil Rudden, a [fictitious] early R.D Laing admirer and the near catastrophic menage-a-trois threatened when Helen Hansford's distant young relative also becomes a patient and her lover turns his attentions to her. But is it a professional one?
The interesting part of the novel is in accurate descriptions and snapshots of England in the war years, post-war and early-60's with the advent of pop music. Chambers has an amazing memory and it is clear she is drawing from her own experiences rather than just a shallow look up and copy made up one.
It is a gentle story and deeply absorbing as we find out more and more about William Tapping and his family. I really enjoyed it all the way through. Every page is a pleasure to read.
