Clare Chambers - Shy Creatures

Shy Creatures is a book about love, family and the joy of freedom and it's the latest book from best-selling author Clare Chambers.

It begins: 

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.

 

This sets the scene for Shy Creatures - Clare's ninth book. It follows Small Pleasures - which became a word-of-mouth hit on publication, and was  selected as a Book of the Year by The Times, the Evening Standard, Daily Telegraph and Spectator.  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. 

Since this book was published on 29 Aug 2024, Clare has appeared on BBC Woman's Hour talking about Shy Creatures, and the Times said of her writing that it is "Wise, beautifully measured and as compelling as you want fiction to be." 

We are excited that Clare is coming to Hastings and will be discussing Shy Creatures, and her approach to writing, with the BBC's Simon Richardson. 

Joan Taylor-Rowan will be opening for Clare. Her short fiction has been broadcast on Radio 4 and published in a number of anthologies.

 

More about Clare: 

Clare's first job after university was working for Diana Athill at André 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.