This is the story of Tom Flett, a young man just out of his teens and making a subsistence living in a trade he learnt from his grandad. He lives on the coast somewhere in the north of England and the year is probably 1962, given that Lawrence of Arabia is on at the local cinema. The author gives us the immersive experience of the world of a shrimp fisherman. We learn how a pony is prepared for the arduous early morning trip to the remote coastal fishing ground. We experience the smells and sensations of trundling out into the shallow waters and dragging the bottom for shrimps, the ‘seascraping’ of the title. We feel for Tom as he battles with this difficult trade, suffers with his ingrowing toenails and endeavours to keep a civil relationship alive with his widowed mother. We learn about Tom’s secret desires, to have the courage to sing and play guitar at the local folk club and his frustrated romantic interests. So far, so much a life of coastal poverty. But into Tom’s world comes the mysterious Edgar Acheson, perhaps a film director, perhaps a predatory man. He certainly has plenty of cash and offers Tom £100 to take him on a reconnaissance visit to the fishing grounds so that he can scout out camera angles for a forthcoming film. The novel then shifts gear and moves from being an everyday tale of fishing folk into a twisting plot-driven tale. Like a good thriller, there are reveals, twists, surprises and resolutions. The writing is beautifully done, sparse but with evocative imagery. It captures in eloquent detail Tom’s life and dreams. Literary style and twisty turns make for a great read.

This is so beautifully written and atmospheric that you feel sea soaked and fog bound on the bleak beaches where Thomas works as a shanker. He is up with first tide, and out with his horse and cart to scrape shrimp from the sands, and to also scrape a living for himself and his mother. An American stranger, a movie maker, arriving in town offers Thomas a glimpse of a bigger world. The small cast of characters - mainly focussing around Thomas, his mother, and Edgar - with all the narrative from Thomas’s perspective, creates a sense of claustrophobic and the entrapment that Thomas feels. Yet despite his daily routines, and the hard life he leads, Thomas is intelligent and creative, yearning to play his guitar, and seeing the glimmers of a possible future. The sparcity, and the careful choice of the words very much put me in mind of Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These - and just as in that story, Thomas’s world is one of simple things, but with lots of deeper truths below the surface. The complexity of the relationship both with his mother, and as the sole provider for their household (which is not his dream) is captured perfectly. Just like the treacherous nature of the sand that can slip and sink, the tone of the book also changes, leading us somewhere dreamlike and half-glimpsed. Many thanks to the publisher for the proof copy and thank you for a reading experience where no word was wasted!

I read an amazing review of this and I must admit I had not heard of Benjamin Wood before despite the fact that this is his fifth novel and that he has already been shortlisted for various awards (and now longlisted for the Booker). The literary editor of The Times described him as 'one of the finest British novelists of his generation' and Hilary Mantel also called him a huge talent. And the new novel is 176 pages long- what did I have to lose?! I am so glad I did read this- a real gem, and one of those incredible novels that manages to make a big impression in so few pages. It made me think of the reading experience I had reading Claire Keegan and Donal Ryan- not only because of the power conveyed in so few words and pages, but also the lyricism and beauty of the language and the strong ambience and sense of place so often found in Irish literary writers. This is a novel set in the north of England, on a bleak coast where drizzle, damp and fog are pretty much a permanent fixture, and where young man Thomas Flett rides out into the sea every day with his horse and cart to catch shrimp and make a meagre living as his grandfather did before him. That is until Hollywood director Edgar Acheson comes into town and into Thomas' life, looking to make a movie in the town, and brings with him a whole new perspective. This is such a beautiful, poignant novel about a young man with dreams, held back by duty, circumstance, poverty and the past, seeing the possibilities of the world beyond the life he leads when a stranger comes into his small town and I was transported. One scene where Thomas and Edgar make their way across the sands towards the sea, dodging sinkholes and unable to see through the thick fog is one of the most tense scenes I have read for some time, and ultimately I found this a very uplifting book. Benjamin Wood really is a brilliant writer and I look forward to finding his previous novels! Highly recommended.

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.

Thank you to the publishers for this early review copy. This is simply a brilliant piece of writing. It captures the sea, the mist, the cold bones of a young man working the beach and the struggles he has just to be warm and fed. Then along comes an opportunity, could life be about to improve? Has someone recognised the beauty of the place and the talent in this young man? Captivating! Highly recommended.