Goodness, this is the most incredibly vivid and atmospheric novella I’ve ever read. Benjamin Wood is a name I’ve not heard of before, but I will certainly seek out his other work.

Seascraper is a unique story centred upon Thomas Flett, a traditional sea shanker, whom lives a physically hard life scraping the sea floor for shrimp, a job and way of life, inherited from his grandpa. The portrayal of Thomas’ simple yet gruelling life over the course of just 2 days, is an utterly absorbing mix of acute realism juxtaposed with an air of mysticism and suffocating sense of place, which had me holding my breath in anticipation.

Longferry, the coastal town where it is set, is an imaginary northern town, sometime in the undefined 1960s, but it’s portrayed so acutely I felt I the sense of place within my bones. The claustrophobic foggy scene on the beach - well, I’m not going to reveal the specifics - but oh my goodness, that was one exceptionally taut cinematic description.

My one criticism is that it felt very much incomplete, and far too short. So much more could have been fleshed out to achieve more satisfaction, and for this reason I can only give it 4 stars instead of the 5 that the writing deserves.

Big thanks to NetGalley for the ARC which has led me to discover the work of Benjamin Wood.

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.

This is a wonderfully written novel, but it's dark and, at times, quite claustrophobic. I just found it painfully slow to get anywhere.

Beautifully intense and perfectly atmospheric, this was such a gorgeously written book. For such a short book, it really packed in a lot of emotion and mood, and I couldn't have loved it any more.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC.

From the start this was full of atmosphere. It felt as if I was living in the same seaside home as Thomas. An extremely haunting story which left my mood in contemplation once it finished.

What a sad and lonely life both Thomas and his mother lived.. towards the end of the book it seemed as if Thomas was progressing out of his mundane life but then the story came to an abrupt end.

Thank you to Penguin General UK - Fig Tree, Hamish Hamilton, Viking, Penguin Life, Penguin Business | Viking, the author and NetGalley for a DRC in return for an honest review

I read Seascraper in both Kindle and audiobook formats. Unfortunately, it wasn’t for me. I found it very slow to get going, and I struggled to stay engaged with the story. That said, I appreciated that the author, Benjamin Wood, narrated the audiobook himself—he has a good voice and delivered it well. While the premise intrigued me, the pacing just didn’t work in my favour.

#Seascraper #NetGalley

I worried about Thomas from page 1 and am still worrying about him. Beautifully imagined and intensely atmospheric.

20 year old Thomas is a ‘shanker‘ - he collects shrimps in an unnamed beach town, in mid-20th Century Britain, still using a horse and cart. One day a charismatic American arrives, offering money and requesting help that only Thomas can offer.

Will he be able to break away from his lonely drudgery or is it all too good to be true?

This is the kind of 'quiet' book I seem to be loving at the moment, and the cover is just gorgeous!

When life is really busy, I love nothing more than escaping with a slow and unfurling, atmospheric novel. And that’s exactly what Seascraper is. Set in a coastal North East England town, Wood engulfs us in the quietude and simplicity of Thomas Flett’s life as a shanker in the 1960s. I loved the perfectly wrought language that Wood chooses here: his writing is rich, calm and simple at the same time, suffusing the story with a curious eeriness and that unsettling feeling in your stomach that comes with any coming-of-age story. I highlighted endless quotes and many of my book notes remark how human and compelling Thomas’ interactions are with filmmaker Edgar Atcheson, who acts as our stark antagonist. What occurs over a few days in this book feel like they’ll stay with me for a long time. This won’t be for those that want action and a solid ending.

Well-written, evocative and atmospheric - read in one sitting. I also logged on to listen to the song (thanks to the author for the link, and for sharing). Also, thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

A well-written novella about a shanker/shrimper in a small fictional town in 1960s or so.
His outlook on life changes as a filmmaker visits them. Will his life change as well?
Excellent atmosphere creation.
3.5 stars.

Seascraper was beautifully written, slow and unfurling.
Thomas Flett is hanging onto an old way of life as a shrimper in the northwest of England. His days are unhurried, dictated by the tide, filled with daydreams of playing guitar and romancing Joan Wyeth. An unexpected encounter with a Hollywood film producer opens him up to the possibility of a new life, but things are not what they seem.
This was a relatively short novel and a slow burner, but hugely atmospheric. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley.

This was an interesting book, a study of a young man trapped in his life as a shrimper on the NE coast, living with his mother who's only 15 years older.. It's a quiet, meditative book/ novella, but by the end I felt oddly disappointed in that I didn't feel I ever really got to know Thomas or Edgar and I found the dream sequence quite jarring and a well used trope.
Thank you to netgalley and Penguin Books for an advance copy of this book.
2.5 rounded up to 3

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

3.5 rounded up.

When I started this book, my heart sank a little. I thought I had, once again, chosen one of these melancholy books set in the recent past in small town Ireland about people struggling and longing to be free.

Well, first of all, it is not set in Ireland but in the Northwest of England and secondly although there is some melancholy to start with it livens up hugely just after half way when Edgar and Thomas go out at night into the sea. The next few pages are quite tense and gripping and I loved the scenes set in the Fogbell tavern. Thomas is a nice character and I wanted things to go well for him.

There is quite the twist at the end which I certainly did not foresee and it all ends, for a change, on an optimistic note.

There is something haunting and out of time about this coming-of-age story. It's also lovely to read in one sitting - and there's even a song you can listen to after you've read it!

Seascraper is a quiet, atmospheric gem of a novel, just 175 pages but full of depth and feeling. Set in a small coastal English town in the mid-20th century, it follows Thomas Flett, a kind-hearted shrimper who lives a simple life with his mother. When an American named Edgar Atcheson arrives, full of charm and plans to make a film, Thomas is drawn into a couple of days of disruption and possibility.

The writing is calm and immersive, with an almost eerie stillness. Thomas is such a good man, steady, sincere, and easy to root for. This is a beautiful, contemplative read that quietly stays with you.

Thanks to Penguin and NetGalley for this ARC!

I really wanted to like this book as I loved the mood that it created. I would liken the first half to the style of Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, through the desolate atmosphere created and the imagery of the beach. But it felt like the story just never quite found its feet through the development of Edgar's character and the storyline that he brought didn't really go anywhere - I wanted more from this. I think some of my disappointment comes from the blurb provided through NetGalley as it didn't feel quite like what was described. I was expecting a greater influence of folk music throughout the story and the story involving Thomas grappling with the desire to leave Longferry for the US. Despite this, I do think the imagery and mood created was brilliant. The writing was fluid, and the characters of Thomas and his mum were really compelling. I would rate it 3/5 stars.

A quietly evocative short novel (novella?) focused on Thomas, a shanker / shrimper in a small town on the NW coast in the 60s. The grind of dragging for shrimp at low tide with a horse and cart is made vividly alive, along with the very modest dreams of maybe playing a few songs in a folk club. The arrival of a brash American film director offers some hope, and the subsequent events are beautifully portrayed. I’ve not read any of Wood’s work before but I’m going to seek them out.

Over the years, Benjamin Wood has become one of those writers I trust enough that any new book is a must-read. I can always count on Wood for great writing – lean, lovely prose, never showy – but the themes are unpredictable; I never know quite what I’m going to get. The campus novel with a capital-W Weird twist in The Bellwether Revivals; the art novel-slash-psychological puzzle of The Ecliptic; the sizzling violence and tension in A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better; and a quieter, more subdued historical novel in The Young Accomplice. And now Seascraper, which feels like it follows most naturally from its immediate predecessor, yet with a markedly different tone: edgier, more mystical.

Thomas Flett is a ‘shanker’, a shrimp-dragger with a horse, cart and nets – out on the tidal flats doing the job his grandfather did, even though it’s the 1960s now and that world is already folding in on itself. He loves playing music, but doesn’t even feel it’s an appropriate hobby for a man like him, let alone a way to make a living. Thomas is a man trapped between lives: on the one hand, he’s only 20 and lives with his mother (herself still young; she was a teenage mum), who often treats him like he’s still a boy. On the other hand, he’s old before his time, worn down by the physical demands of his work, and feels it’s already too late to make changes to his life.

Into this monotony bursts Edgar Acheson, a film producer who’s been scouting for locations in the area and thinks Longferry beach, Thomas’s shrimping turf, would be perfect for his next project. It’s difficult to go into exactly what happens next without spoiling the whole thing. But it’s about Thomas coming to terms with his legacy – his dying trade, his father’s absence – and how Edgar’s presence has a life-changing ripple effect, even if not in the way Thomas, or the reader, might expect. There’s arguably a touch of magical realism in there, too.

Seascraper is a short novel, and if I have a criticism, it’s that it could have been fleshed out so much more. Thomas’s relationship with his mother, the pivotal prophecy or vision, the whole situation with Edgar… I would have liked to explore any (or all) of these threads further. I would have liked to read some of The Outermost, a fictitious book within the book that could have added an extra layer of unreality to the whole thing. (Although I appreciate ‘unreality’ is not necessarily what Wood is going for here; it’s me who has the instinct to turn towards the strange.)

If you liked Ben Tufnell’s The North Shore or James Clarke’s Sanderson’s Isle, this one will probably hit. Tighter and more focused than The Young Accomplice, it’s a good balance of tension and sentiment, the sort of balancing act that only someone with Wood’s talent could actually pull off.

Beautifully written book about loneliness and fitting in. The twist in the story was subtle but quite devastating because it was delivered with a twist of dark humour. An American with big ideas and wild plans turns up out of the blue and you understand immediately that Thomas's life will never be the same again. I loved the way it evoked the area it was set in so well - the cold, thick fog and wind all added to Thomas's sense of isolation and ultimately, hope.

Set in a fictional coast town – Longferry (a fictionalised version of the author’s home town and so I think on the North West Coast of England – although this is not specified) and set by deduction in the 1960s (again not specified – and the main protagonist is effectively living what was already then an outmoded almost anachronistic way of life making the exact timing difficult to judge), the novel’s (the Creative Writing Lecturer’s fifth) protagonist is twenty year old Thomas Flett.

Thomas is working in the family trade (via his maternal grandfather) as a shanker – taking his horse and cart out across the 1-2 mile long beach at each low water (the book effectively takes place over three such low waters over two days) to scrape just across the sea shore for shrimp - which he then sells for cash in hand to a local merchant.

Thomas lives with his mother – his father was her teacher and had relationships with her as a schoolchild before fleeing in disgrace to join up and being killed in the war – and his deliberately unnamed horse (the risk of having to abandon horse in sinkpits in the sand mean that traditionally the shankers have not got too sentimentally attached to their horses – albeit a close working relationship is essential to their trade).

Thomas lives a slow, deliberate life with his mother, 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.

For all Thomas feels almost obliged to pursue this trade and support his mother in her hand-to-mouth home economics, he yearns for a different future and secretly is practising his folk guitar playing while also trying to pluck up (pun intended) the courage to speak to the sister of his best friend.

And over the two days of the novel – a new vista opens up when he and his mother are visited by an American filmmaker (who Thomas checks out in a film guide at his local shop) scouting for a location to film his favourite novel set – a mysterious ghost like story set on a desolate American beach and involving an undertaker’s horse and cart.

And while not everything about the visitor turns out to be exactly as he initially promised, a beach accident leading to a fevered dream unlocks a creativity in Thomas and leads him to write the titular song.

Overall this was a quiet and short but nevertheless impactful novel.