Seascraper
Published on 17. July 2025
Book
Hardback
176 pages
978-0-241-74134-4 (ISBN)
Description
*LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2025*
'A huge talent' HILARY MANTEL
'A magnificent writer' DOUGLAS STUART
'One of the finest novelists of his generation' THE TIMES
Thomas lives a slow, deliberate life with his mother in Longferry, working his grandpa's trade as a shanker. He rises early to take his horse and cart to the grey, gloomy beach to scrape for shrimp; spending the rest of the day selling his wares, trying to wash away the salt and scum, pining for Joan Wyeth down the street and rehearsing songs on his guitar. At heart, he is a folk musician, but it remains a private dream.
When a striking visitor turns up, bringing the promise of Hollywood glamour, Thomas is shaken from the drudgery of his days and begins to see a different future. But how much of what the American claims is true, and how far can his inspiration carry Thomas?
Haunting and timeless, this is the story of a young man hemmed in by his circumstances, striving to achieve fulfilment far beyond the world he knows.
***
MORE PRAISE FOR SEASCRAPER:
'A book about dreams, an exploration of class and family, a celebration of the power and the glory of music, a challenge to the limits of realism, and - stunningly - a love story' BOOKER PRIZE 2025 JUDGES
'It's a senuous treat, this novel . . . A language of the sea washes over every page' ROSS RAISIN
'A tale so richly atmospheric you can almost taste the tang of brine and inhale the sea fog . . . [Wood] transforms the quotidian into the poetic, making the exactitude of each task sing on the page' GUARDIAN
'Wood is up there with the very best. He packs more poetry into his opening paragraph than many a Booker-winner achieves in their entire oeuvre' JOHANNA THOMAS-CORR, THE TIMES
'Seascraper shimmers, salt-flecked and rippling' SPECTATOR
'A huge talent' HILARY MANTEL
'A magnificent writer' DOUGLAS STUART
'One of the finest novelists of his generation' THE TIMES
Thomas lives a slow, deliberate life with his mother in Longferry, working his grandpa's trade as a shanker. He rises early to take his horse and cart to the grey, gloomy beach to scrape for shrimp; spending the rest of the day selling his wares, trying to wash away the salt and scum, pining for Joan Wyeth down the street and rehearsing songs on his guitar. At heart, he is a folk musician, but it remains a private dream.
When a striking visitor turns up, bringing the promise of Hollywood glamour, Thomas is shaken from the drudgery of his days and begins to see a different future. But how much of what the American claims is true, and how far can his inspiration carry Thomas?
Haunting and timeless, this is the story of a young man hemmed in by his circumstances, striving to achieve fulfilment far beyond the world he knows.
***
MORE PRAISE FOR SEASCRAPER:
'A book about dreams, an exploration of class and family, a celebration of the power and the glory of music, a challenge to the limits of realism, and - stunningly - a love story' BOOKER PRIZE 2025 JUDGES
'It's a senuous treat, this novel . . . A language of the sea washes over every page' ROSS RAISIN
'A tale so richly atmospheric you can almost taste the tang of brine and inhale the sea fog . . . [Wood] transforms the quotidian into the poetic, making the exactitude of each task sing on the page' GUARDIAN
'Wood is up there with the very best. He packs more poetry into his opening paragraph than many a Booker-winner achieves in their entire oeuvre' JOHANNA THOMAS-CORR, THE TIMES
'Seascraper shimmers, salt-flecked and rippling' SPECTATOR
Reviews / Votes
A quiet, unassuming book about honest work and modest dreams, about sons and their duty, and those brief, wonderful moments when we glimpse the possibility of living a different life. Benjamin Wood is a magnificent writer and I intend to read everything he has written -- Douglas Stuart One of the finest British novelists of his generation -- Johanna Thomas-Corr * Times * Wood is up there with the very best... he packs more poetry into his opening paragraph than many a Booker-winner achieves in their entire oeuvre -- Johanna Thomas-Corr * The Times * The wonder of this book is how Wood delivers so much in a few words...Seascraper reads like the forging of a new myth: one about how an alternative life is possible, and may even be starting to happen inside you already -- John Self * Financial Times * Wood conjures wonders from this unlikely material in a tale so richly atmospheric you can almost taste the tang of brine and inhale the sea fog -- Jude Cook * Guardian * Seascraper is powerful, poignant and poetic. I can't recommend it enough -- Benjamin Myers, award-winning author of Cuddy Seascraper shimmers, salt-flecked and rippling. It swells with tense, memorable moments... poignant, authentic and hopeful. * Spectator * It is a sensuous treat, this novel. So much care has been given to every detail - of shrimps and sea mists and sinkpits, of work and music. A language of the sea washes over every page -- Ross Raisin, award-winning author of God's Own Country Benjamin Wood has been quietly building a reputation for intricate yet impressively distinct novels, and Seascraper might be the most fully formed yet...What Wood does brilliantly here is grapple with the push and pull of family duty, work, upbringing and the possibility of an entirely different life' Ben East, Observer -- Ben East * Observer * a wrong-footing and enormously compelling coming-of-age narrative -- Anthony Cummins * Daily Mail *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Penguin Books Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 203 mm
Width: 132 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
252 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-241-74134-4 (9780241741344)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
07/2025
Penguin Books Ltd
€8.99
Available for download
Person
Benjamin Wood was born in 1981 and grew up in Merseyside. Seascraper is his fifth novel. His previous works have been shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, the Commonwealth Book Prize, the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the RSL Encore Award, the CWA Gold Dagger Award and the European Union Prize for Literature. In 2014, he won France's Prix du Roman Fnac. He is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at King's College, London, and lives in Surrey with his wife and sons.