Tom spends his days grafting at dawn and dusk in the shallow tides, netting shrimp with his horse and cart. It is a hard, anachronistic life inherited from his grandfather and he and his mother struggle to make ends meet.

When an American movie director arrives in town and decides Tom is exactly what he needs as a guide for location shooting, Tom is dazzled by the possibility and the money he is being offered. Can it be too good to be true?

A strange and unique novella of drudgery and fantasy.

Seascraper is a captivating portrait of a young man constrained by his class and his family's past, while harbouring dreams of artistic fulfilment. Tom, a Shanker in the small town of Longferry, leads a slow and deliberate life, catching shrimp and caring for his mother. His ambitions seem distant, but when an American film director named Mr Acheson arrives, offering money in exchange for local knowledge of the beach, Tom begins to see a glimpse of a life beyond his small world.

The first part of the book beautifully captures the monotony and routine of seaside life, evoking a timeless sense of place. As Edgar, the film director, befriends Tom, their relationship grows, and the quiet rhythm of the town is disrupted by the promise of something more. The novel is set in the 1960s, and Tom's suppressed dream of becoming a folk singer adds depth to his yearning for a different life.

Seascraper doesn't rely on traditional conflict or betrayal, but instead unfolds with a gentle, almost wistful tone. It ends on a quietly hopeful note, leaving readers with a sense of what could have been. This is a unique and introspective book, showcasing Benjamin Wood’s exceptional talent in British literature.

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I actually enjoyed this so much more that I thought I would. Thomas despite being in his 20s feels like an old man, he lives this slow life; he’s trapped in this life that’s weighing him down but meeting Mr Acheson, who claims to be in the film industry gives him the space to want something more.

The novella is a truly brilliant depiction of the constraints of social class and familial duties/expectations. Truly did enjoy it.

"Seascraper" by Benjamin Wood is a poignant and haunting novel that follows Tom, a young man trapped in a life of routine in the quaint town of Longferry. Tom's days are filled with scraping for shrimp on the grey, gloomy beach and selling his catch, while his true passion lies in music. His life takes an intriguing turn with the arrival of Mr. Acheson, an American with a glamorous aura, who claims to be in the movie business. As Tom navigates this new relationship, he begins to question the reality of Mr. Acheson's stories and the possibilities they offer for escaping his mundane life.

Tom's journey is deeply personal as he grapples with his family's past and his own desires for artistic fulfillment. His character is richly nuanced, reflecting a struggle between the comfort of familiarity and the allure of the unknown. Supporting characters like his mother and Joan Wyath add depth to the narrative, highlighting the complexities of relationships and community ties.

The novel masterfully explores themes of identity, ambition, and the constraints of social class. These themes invite readers to reflect on their own experiences with feeling trapped or seeking broader horizons.

Benjamin Wood's writing style is exceptional, with a sensitive and evocative language that paints a vivid picture of Longferry's misty coast. The narrative structure is concise yet powerful, making the book a quick yet impactful read. The atmosphere is melancholic and introspective, drawing readers into Tom's world of daydreams and reality.

I found the book emotionally resonant, evoking a sense of longing and empathy for Tom's plight. While the story is hauntingly beautiful, some readers might find the pace a bit slow, which could be seen as a minor drawback.

What makes "Seascraper" special is its ability to capture the essence of small-town life and the universal desire for something more. It fits well within the literary fiction genre, offering a unique perspective on themes that are both timeless and timely. Compared to other works by Benjamin Wood, "Seascraper" continues his tradition of crafting compelling narratives that explore human complexities with depth and sensitivity.

Overall, it's a compelling read that encourages readers to ponder their own aspirations and the boundaries that define them.

A vivid and atmospheric portrayal of a young man who feels slightly trapped working as a shrim fisherman continuing on his family traditions. as he yearns for more from life he meets a mysterious man from Hollywood who seems to promise him an escape from the life he currently leads. Is the man all he claims to be? Can he help Thomas achieve more from the life he currently leads?

I really enjoyed this, the sense of place is brilliantly and I read it feeling as though I was walking on a misty beach watching the tale unfold. It draws you in like the tide and refuses to let go until the end.

4+
Thomas Flett is a shanker, scraping a living from what the sea brings in on the tide but he knows the end is near because the waters now bring in strange chemicals and other disgusting detritus. Although he’s only 20 he feels like an old man as this living is hard. Once there were many shankers but now he’s the last one in Longferry. It’s cold and lonely, the only company is the placid draught horse pulling his cart. Thomas wants more. He’s in love with Joan Wyeth, his best friend’s sister and he has aspirations to be a musician. When American Edgar Acheson swings into town claiming to be a Hollywood filmmaker and offering him money in return for his help with shoreline locations, is this his get out of Longferry free card or something else? Can Acheson be trusted, is he credible?

This novella has vivid and beautiful writing, the descriptions are so visual and it’s abundant in the grey, cold misty atmosphere of winter by the sea in, I assume, Northern England. The mood does change but it starts very sombrely with the hardship and grind of Thomas’s routine being palpable as he moves back-and-forth trying to scrape a living. At times it has a claustrophobic feel especially as the mist closes in on the shoreline but it’s not just that, Thomas‘s life has strong elements of claustrophobia. The mood changes with music and when Joan Wyeth is on the page, then there’s some optimism. in addition, there’s hope that perhaps Edgar is offering him a chance and a change. Thomas seems to grow as a person throughout this two day period and you can see clearly what he is made of at the end. The story has some very dramatic moments especially of danger at the shoreline.

I’ve not read Benjamin Wood before but I wouldn’t hesitate to read his work again as he makes me feel as if I’m there in Longferry as an observer. The descriptions are rich yet quiet, their vibrant and real with a moment of surreal, it’s surprising as well as engrossing with excellent characterisation into the bargain. This is a memorable read and that cover is just stunning perfectly summing the novel up.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Penguin General UK for the much appreciated Epub in return for an honest review.

The story of Thomas and his horse really draws you into this book. It is harsh at times for Thomas to keep going to provide for his mother. He then thinks that all will change when a so called film producer offers him money to just show him the location for a film he wants to make. Offer too good to be true?

Lovely well written book.

Thank you netgalley for letting me read this book.

The ‘seacraper’ of the title is Thomas Flett and, sometime in the early 1960s, he makes a living collecting brown shrimp from the mudflats of a Northern estuary. Following on in this work from his father, he is one of the last of the horse-drawn scrapers in an area of work which is becoming increasingly mechanised. It is hard, poorly paid work without much future, and a poor life at home with only his mother for company offers little compensation.

Then, he meets Edgar Acheson from ‘Hollywood’ who is keen to use the beach as a setting for a film and needs Tom’s help. Their relationship develops, although the plans come to nothing in strangely unexpected ways – yet Thomas benefits.

It’s a short book, a novella really, and gives an extended elegiac account of a type of fishing set in the past with no future, and set against an impoverished location which is oddly beautiful. It is the slow evocation of a lifestyle, atmospherically described which gives the book its strength.

Thomas never knew his father but there are strange glimpses of him throughout the novel and even an almost ghostly encounter. It is all quite extraordinary but it leaves Thomas with a love of guitar playing and folk music.

It’s a wonderful read and highly recommended!

The cover alone was enough to draw my attention to this book. It’s quietly striking; introspective, mysterious and slightly haunting. I wanted to know how it related to the story. Benjamin Wood’s writing is lyrical. There’s barely a spare word and I was immediately hooked into this very unusual take. Set in the 1969s, Thomas lives with his mother and ekes out a living by trawling for shrimp. He goes to the beach every day with his horse and nets, a cold, lonely and bleak job with scant returns. He dreams of a life as a musician. His world and routine are interrupted by the arrival of an American looking for film locations. Could this present Thomas with the opportunity a lifetime? Thomas has loyalty and integrity isn’t the fool that he may seem. He has hidden depths and this is predominantly his story. I loved it. It’s refreshing and just so beautifully written, sharply observed and truly wonderful. What a talent.

I really loved this. Thomas is a great, noble, character, he wants more from his life, but not at the cost of his integrity. He prizes loyalty, and for him family (including his unnamed horse) is all - although he was not able to finish his education, he has an innate wisdom and sense of honour which guide him well. Though he soon warms to the visitor, he is not dazzled into giddiness. He has an appreciation of the realities of his life, and when he does chance to let his guard down and go against his better instinct, he begins to learn a valuable lesson which empowers him to make changes.

Wood’s writing is so effective and efficient, able to evoke the bleak hardship of Thomas’ life and environment, such richness of interiority and depth of scene, delivered in simple, yet graceful, prose.

The grey indistinct sea dripped icily from every page, notwithstanding the heartwarming glow of Thomas’ burgeoning discovery of himself.

Wonderful

If you've ever lived by the sea -especially in the winter- when the days are grey, damp and full of an engulfing mist, then the scene is set in Seascraper in atmosphere and climate..

Thomas Flett works as a shanker- he drags a net through the sandy wet coastline channels of Longferry beach led by his horse to catch shrimp. This is the occupation that he inherited from his grandfather- a tireless, exhausting occupation that pays little and stretches Thomas to his physical limit .

It is the 1960s and Thomas lives with his mother- who having raised Thomas without a father places a continual pressure upon him to earn a living for them both. His only escape is his love of books and to secretly play the guitar and attend a music night at a local bar whilst contemplating who is father was.

Life changes with the unexpected arrival Edgar Acheson who charms his way into their home and requests( for a fee) that Thomas shows him the area and how he carries out his occupation with the goal that the information can be used towards a film he intends to produce. Could this be a life changing moment for Thomas- a chance to break the monotony and hardship?

The story takes place over a two day period and the pervading sense of melancholy, routine and hardship is palpable- rather like the grim weather. The conflicted emotions of Thomas are palpable- his desire for change permeates off the page.... is this the time for change ?

Poetic, brooding and charged with sense of claustrophobia from the encroaching mist, Benjamin Wood has written a novel that will linger with you long after completion.

I dont know what to say except brilliant, this is one of the best novels i have read. Its exciting, thrilling and rich in imagination. Something so ordinary that has never a dull moment or lagging in the tale. I loved this 5 stars.

Seascraper follows Thomas Flett, a young man who lives at home with his mum and whose job it is to go to the beach with his horse every day and catch shrimp to sell. It’s the early 1960s, some other shrimpers are starting to use mechanised rigs/trucks, but he doesn’t have the money to do that. Secretly, he dreams of being a musician and practises guitar in private. One day, an American film director turns up, talking of setting his next movie around the beach, and suddenly Thomas sees the opportunity to change his life. Of course, not everything is as it seems.

This is a quiet, gorgeously written novel that I absolutely loved. The character development of Thomas is wonderful, but so too is that of his mother and Edgar the director. The landscape is beautifully drawn too and I could almost smell the sea in the pages. I will be recommending this book a lot this year, I think.

Set sometime in the 1950s, Seascraper takes place over a single day which sees Thomas Flett lifted out of his hardscrabble life for a few brief hours.
Almost twenty, Thomas lives with his mother in a ramshackle shack he has neither the time nor inclination to repair. One spring morning, he gets up well before dawn to accommodate the tides, heading home once the day’s catch has been sold, where he finds his mother with an American man who has the oddest proposition for him. Edgar is a movie director, intent on filming a novel for which Thomas’s stretch of beach offers the perfect location. He needs Thomas’s help negotiating the treacherous waters along a coastline peppered with sinkholes and offers a princely sum for doing so. Their recce of the beach that night ends with an epiphany for Thomas.
Wood’s descriptions of the bleak landscape and the difficulties Thomas endures are vividly cinematic and arresting. He and his mother lead a hand-to-mouth life with little hope of change, but he dreams of becoming a musician and catching the eye of his best friend’s sister. The arrival of Edgar with his tales of Hollywood and glamour are met with scepticism by Thomas, overcome by the hope of a friendship and a future. Things may not quite turn out the way he expected but there’s hope for Thomas at the end of this atmospheric, dreamlike novella.

I was asked by NetGalley to review this beautiful book.

This is so beautifully written and a story that I will think about for a good while. Story of what could be, opprtunities and choices we may havre in life

So recommended due for publication July 2025.

I loved it.

Thomas lives with his mother in the small, coastal community of Longferry around the 1960s. He ekes out a living driving a horse and cart out to the sea where he scrapes up shrimp to sell on. They are always in debt and the work is very harsh. Wood lists Thomas’s aching joints, pain from his ingrown toenails, exhaustion and semi-permanent state of filth and stench- I was shocked to then read he is only twenty! He has little time to socialise and is shy around the girl he likes, although he does secretly play his guitar a little, and he knows that the old ways are coming to an end, with others getting engines to go shrimping. It seems his luck has changed when he is sought out by an American film director, Edgar Acheson, who wants him to act as guide to the bleak but atmospheric beach and seashore where he works for a film he wants to make, and suddenly Thomas starts to see potential for his own life. A short and unusual story that lingers in the memory, it seems very bleak to begin with but ends filled with hope and possibility. Wood is a very visual and sensual writer, painting a vibrant picture of the biting cold, the grind and physical punishment of the work and the powerful force of the sea and the sinking sands around it. The characters are depicted effectively and sympathetically through their words and actions rather than with lots of description. The resulting impression is of a harsh and often unforgiving life that still contains many small pleasures for those prepared to look for them, and offers the chance of change when least expected. It will linger wiith me for a long time.

Seascraper by Benjamin Wood

Tom is a shanker (dredging shrimp from the sea using nets pulled by a horse and cart) in a dreary town in 1960s England, scratching a living for himself and his mother, and trying to pay enough of their bills that the bailiffs don't come. An American film-maker comes to town and enlists Tom to help him scope out locations for his next movie, but is he all that he seems?

This book was a masterclass in mood and setting - the desciptions of the beach, sea, the horse and cart, and Tom's world were so real they were cinematic. And although short, the book really packed a punch - I had such empathy for Tom who was a big reader and longed to play music, sing and win the heart of his friend's sister, yet was trapped in such a miserable existence. Very highly recommended

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Seascraper is the story of Thomas, a cart shanker - a harvester of shrimp. He has been taught the skills of the trade by his grandfather who helped raise him when his mother was abandoned as a pregnant teenager. Each morning Thomas prepares his horse and cart, and travels to the grey and foggy beach at Longferry, where he casts his nets from his cart while his horse wades through the shallow waters at low tide. After two runs of the beach, he sells his catch to the fishmonger onshore, and returns home to wash away the salt, sweat and scum from his body. The work is hard, solitary and dangerous. There are areas of wet, unstable sand that can swallow the horse and cart of an unwary fisherman.

Thomas dreams of a future that involves Joan, his best friend’s sister who works as a teller, and also of improving his guitar playing so he can perform for the local villagers.

When an eccentric visitor arrives in town bringing the promise of Hollywood glamour and easier money, Thomas is disengaged from the daily grind of his work and he envisages a different future. Thomas is trusting and naïve, can the American visitor deliver the exciting future he is offering?

This is an exceptional story, Benjamin Wood has transported me from my sub-tropical home in Queensland, Australia to an isolated and windswept beach in England, where the inhabitants lead a simple, humdrum life and look forward to little more than having a roof over their heads, food on the table and a brandy to ease the body and soothe the mind. It is a quick read at only 176 pages however Benjamin has packed those pages with exceptional sensitive writing and brilliant characters.

This is a haunting and evocative story that will stay with me for a long time. I would unconditionally recommend the book to all readers who enjoy contemporary and literary fiction. Thank you Penguin Random House UK for the invitation to review this book.

This beautifully crafted, slow-burn novel, full of rich language and writing, is a small wonder. Thomas, a young man living in the fictional town of Longferry at some point in the 1960s (specifics are not detailed here), rises early to work catching shrimp, but dreams of something more, perhaps another life, the life of a musician to impress the woman for whom he pines. Seascraper is a very fine novel. There are no fireworks here, no major plot, but it pulls you in and leaves you with a sense of place, time and of having been witness to a life changing. Benjamin Wood is a talent. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

This book is hard for me to rate. It's a slow burner and certainly no page-turner, even when it could be. A historical novel — allegedly — set in a small fictional town somewhere on the east cost of Scotland (probably in the region of the Borders) at an indeterminate period, but some time during the 1940s or 1950s. Even the narrative's brief mysterious sections are related at an unhurried pace. The story tells of lonely, impoverished and disenfranchised individuals, desperately seeking for some meaning in their lives beyond their hand-to-mouth existence. At less than 200 pages in length it's more a novella than a novel, but that can only be a good thing. Any longer it would likely lack the little tension it possesses in its present form.

Many thanks to the publishers and to Netgalley for the ARC.