The Penguin Podcast is back! Listen Now
Seascraper

Seascraper

Summary

Tom lives a slow, deliberate life with his mother in Longferry, working his grandfather’s trade as a shanker. His heart is in his music, but these ambitions seem far away from the dreary town around him. Instead he rises early to take his horse and cart to the grey gloomy beach and scrape for shrimp, spending the rest of his time selling his wares, looking after his Ma, and daydreaming about Joan Wyath down the street.

When a striking visitor turns up, an American who oozes glamour, Tom thinks it’s a good deal – show him around the misty coast in exchange for enough money to raise an eyebrow at the bank, maybe enough to broaden the narrow horizons he’s begun to strain against. Mr Acheson says he’s in the movie business, but how much of what he says is Hollywood magic?

SEASCRAPER is a mesmerising portrait of a young man confined in by his class and the ghosts of his family's past, dreaming of artistic fulfilment. It confirms Benjamin Wood as a exceptional talent in British literature.

Reviews

  • A huge talent
    Hilary Mantel

About the author

Benjamin Wood

Benjamin Wood's first novel, The Bellwether Revivals, was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and the Commonwealth Book Prize, and won Le Prix du Roman Fnac. A finalist for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, his other works have been shortlisted for the Encore Award, the CWA Gold Dagger Award and the European Prize for Literature. He is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at King's College London and lives in Surrey with his wife and sons.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more