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Seascraper

Seascraper

Summary

'Britain's answer to Donna Tartt' Sunday Times

'A huge talent' Hilary Mantel

'What a writer' Richard Osman


Tom lives a slow, deliberate life with his mother in quaint Longferry, working his grandfather’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 rest of the day selling his wares, practising the guitar while his Ma’s asleep, 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, haunting portrait of a man in a slow war of attrition – with the elements, with himself, and with the ghosts of his family’s past.

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.
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