The Expansion Project

Hardback Published on: 14/08/2025
Price: £16.99
Free UK delivery on orders over £25, otherwise £3.99
Not available
This product is currently unavailable
Make and edit your lists in your account
No stock available in any shop.
Not available
This product is currently unavailable
No stock available in any shop.

Bookseller Reviews

View all
The Expansion Project
Disturbing Severance-style weirdness
A day starts fairly normally, if a bit off kilter, then gets stranger and stranger. Tom's workplace is having a Bring your Daughter to Work Day, so he and ... READ MORE
Selena, Guildford
The Expansion Project
A reviewer speaks about the book
Hello! Thanks for listening (you are listening? Right?) This book was absolutely nightmarish in the most brilliant way. It was funny, absurd, and heart-bre... READ MORE
Marina
The Expansion Project
Untethered
A properly sinister novel about the ensnaring nature of work that feels both timeless and of the moment and with little reference to the digital age, still... READ MORE
Edward Woods
The Expansion Project
Terrifying
It is hard to put into words a response to this book - it is totally unique and imaginative, if not totally bizarre. That said, I loved it. The story begin... READ MORE
Olivia at Telford
The Expansion Project
Will be thinking about this one for a while
This was so good. I loved its portrayal of the absurdity of modern work and its commentary on capitalism and how it affects (and destroys) people’s real li... READ MORE
Johanna Stiefler Johnson
The Expansion Project
Read with Friends - the more brains the better!
I’m honestly not really sure what to make of The Expansion Project, but I really was compelled to keep reading so the vibes are definitely good. Surreal, d... READ MORE
Rosie, Waterstones Cheltenham
The Expansion Project
Never ignore the Goldsmiths Prize books...
Thanks to my colleague Rosie for recommending this to me, suggesting it is a Me sort of book and it certainly is. I loved this unique, Goldsmithian deb... READ MORE
Chloë at Cheltenham Waterstones
The Expansion Project
Unsettling - in the best way possible!
Thank you to the publishers for sending me this proof copy. This was my first introduction to Pester's work, and the way with which he sets mood and tone i... READ MORE
Charlotte Newell
The Expansion Project
Haunting
An absolutely surreal, fever dream of a novel, I'm not entirely certain what to say about this, but I did love it. This is a unique, unsettling read - it l... READ MORE
Helen at Scarborough
The Expansion Project
This book made me feel so strange!!!
What am I doing with my life? What's the point of capitalism? What's the point of anything? Am I real? Is anything real??? Can't wait to hear Ben Pester... READ MORE
Selma - Waterstones Islington

Synopsis

Plans for the expansion of the Capmeadow Business Park are in full swing - its mission is to become the greatest business park in the region. Tom Crowley, a mid-level employee, loses his daughter at 'bring your daughter to work day'. He raises the alarm, and his colleagues rush to help him find her. Eventually, after no sign of her is found, it transpires she was never there. And yet, as time goes on, Tom still cannot reconcile that she is really at home. Refusing to accept that she is safe, Tom continues to search for her in the maze of corridors and impossible multi-dimensional spaces that make up his place of work...

Because Capmeadow is expanding in unexpected ways, a Liaison Officer becomes the central focus for complaints about how the expansion is impacting the lives of the employees - unexpected buildings, years-long business days, cursed farmers' markets, and corridors of the mind are draining the life from Tom and everyone he works with.

Years pass, and Tom remains at the company, convinced he is in the presence of his now adult daughter. But has he judged it correctly? And can anything go back to the way it was??

Publisher information

  • Publisher: Granta Books
  • ISBN: 2928377342012
  • Number of pages: 224
  • Dimensions: 216 x 138 mm
  • Languages: English

Customer Reviews

View all
The Expansion Project
Mind-bending
The Capmeadow Expansion Project is in full swing. When Tom Crowley brings his daughter to the office for ‘bring your daughter to work day’ and loses her, h... READ MORE
Ella - The Story Collector
The Expansion Project
Surreal yet defies categorisation
‘You don’t have to be mad to work here…’ as the old saying goes, or perhaps your workplace is sure to turn you mad. Tom Crowley, a low level employee of th... READ MORE
Huttson Lo
The Expansion Project
Odd but compelling
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book. I do not have a clue what this is about but it is oddly compelling. I feel that ... READ MORE
am/am/am
The Expansion Project
Four stars!
The Expansion Project by Ben Pester is a surreal and unsettling exploration of corporate culture, grief, and the strange ways memory and reality blur when ... READ MORE
The Secret Book Review
The Expansion Project
Discombobulating, and highly original
I started reading this book a couple of months ago, and having read a quarter of it, I put it aside. Ironically, I found The Expansion Project strangely cl... READ MORE
Anna Evans-Wylie