An extract from Seascraper by Benjamin Wood
‘He’s barely twenty years of age, but he goes shuffling down the hallway in his stocking feet with all the spryness of a care-home resident’
A mesmerising portrait of a young man confined by his class and the ghosts of his family’s past, dreaming of artistic fulfilment
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 and scrape for shrimp, spending the afternoon selling his wares, trying to wash away the salt and scum, pining for Joan Wyath 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.
Benjamin Wood
About the Author
Benjamin Wood grew up in Merseyside, UK, and is the author of five novelsIt’s 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 literary realism, and – stunningly – a love story
— The Booker Prize 2025 judges
What the judges said
‘Seascraper seems, at first, to be a beautifully described account of the working day of a young man, Thomas Flett, who works as a shanker in a north of England coastal town, scraping the Irish Sea shore for scrimps. And it is that: the details of the job and the physicality of the labour are wonderfully captured by Benjamin Wood. But this novel becomes much more than that. It’s 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 literary realism, and – stunningly – a love story.’
What the critics said
Philip Womack, Spectator
‘Seascraper shimmers, salt-flecked and rippling. It swells with tense, memorable moments, as when Edgar and Tom venture on to the shore at night and meet danger. The long beaches, full of hidden traps and shrouded by fog, are a metaphor for Tom’s complex state of mind. In the end, his music guides him out of the mire.’
Johanna Thomas-Corr, Times
‘Benjamin Wood is one of the finest British novelists of his generation, but you’ve probably never heard of him… Wood decided to embrace the weather when he was writing Seascraper, working outdoors for the first time and composing the book in longhand. The result is a fiercely atmospheric novel that engages the senses.’
