A brilliantly crafted and beautifully written story that, despite its brevity, will stay with me for a long time. The prose is sparing yet powerfully evocative of time and place. It is a deceptively simple tale about the roles of 'imagination', 'opportunities', and 'choices' in life, both our own and those of the people around us. Special thank you to Penguin Random House UK & NetGalley for a digital advance review copy.

Rich and full of character, I could feel the sand under my feet and in my eyes as I read this. Wood has a real knack for descriptive writing, the beach and town came alive as I was reading, it was such a vivid painting of colours, sounds and smells. The clack of the horse on the cobblestone and the smell of the salty sea air, all of these things were so beautifully written I really felt as if I was there on that seafront with Thomas. I wish there was a little more development with Mr Acheson and the Hollywood side plot, but honestly I enjoyed the writing and scenery so much that I didn’t mind the slight distraction at all. A real strong, short story.

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.

I’m grateful to Penguin Random House for making a pre-publication copy available so that I might make an honest review.

This was sensational. A new to me author who writes with the intimacy of Donal Ryan, and similar authors I've come across in Ireland, but haven't connected with outside of home. I want to read all of his back catalogue now.

It is a coming of age story about a young man directed by circumstance and history to follow his ancestors into the world of fishing, but his dreams are elsewhere. There is a film director visits the fishing village and his mind is opened to a different path. It is engrossing from the start. I was GIFTED an e-ARC from @penguinukbooks

No chapters

Starts off bleak, a 20 yr old forced to fish as his late grandfather did to support his mother, all his earnings go to her
It’s bleak. No tv. He’s a big reader when he can access books. "Their life is just a mindless trudge of work with cosy patterns of behaviour in between..."

Sense of drama about family being somewhat ostracised in the community. The rummy friends that “I wouldn’t even share my handkerchief with”

Hard to figure out time book is set initially or where. I immediately thought west of Ireland , but think it’s West of England somewhere as Wales is nearby. To be fair, the use of a horse for fishing should have told me the time. Or the once a week wash in the tub bath. But it was Elvis Presley and Perry Como being artists of the day that helped.

A stranger arrives, lets see where it goes. A sense of foreboding. But hope at the same time for Thomas and his mother.

Writing is evocative. I felt like I could smell the fish. The grandfather is more like a father and warmly spoken of. "It was Pop who raised him up when lesser fellas would've left him.." The tenderness for the horse.

The sense of smell is strong “the metal tang of the electric iron”

Each sentence means something, you can’t skim read, reminds me of Sally Rooney.
The sentences are often short, packing a punch.

Did it get a bit off track with beginning of second part and meeting father, Edgar saving him? I wasn't so sure where it was going - I went with it, but it was the weakest part of the story for me, but it did propel the character forward. Love the music being part of his makeup though.

The ingrown nails feel significant throughout. But nothing came of it, maybe that's reflecting his life.

Edgar wakes Thomas up. That’s Thomas’s reaction, which I think is quite nice

Thomas leads a dreary life, trawling for shrimp on the coast of Ireland somewhere, in bleak conditions. He lives with his mother and longs to pluck up courage to speak to his friend’s sister, and to compose and sing folk songs. A strange American turns up, scouting for locations for his next project and offering Tom and his mother large sums of money. Will this be the life-changing opportunity Thomas needs? This is a very short novel and I read it in one sitting, finding the writing style to be compelling. The setting is atmospheric and the way Thomas’ character develops is pleasing.

Thomas Flett is a shanker. He leads his horse and cart onto the beach and drags his nets through the shallow waters to catch shrimp. The first part of ‘Seascraper’ takes us through Tom’s working routine and is beautifully written as a timeless ritual passed on through the generations. The monotony of a seaside town out of season is broken by the arrival of Edgar, an established film director who wants to use the beach as a setting for his new movie and is willing to pay Thomas for his inside knowledge. An unlikely friendship grows between them as Edgar accompanies Tom and his horse onto the potentially treacherous Longferry Beach. It took me a while to deduce that ‘Seascraper’ is set during the sixties and Tom has suppressed ambitions to be a folk singer. I was expecting conflict or betrayal, but the tone of the novel is gentler than that and this unusual novel ends on a tentatively hopeful note. I would like to thank Net Galley for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this atmospheric book.

Seascraper is my introduction to Benjamin Wood, and Longferry -its fog-laden sand beaches- has haunted me as much as it haunts Thomas, the protagonist. I know the weight of doing the same job every day just to scrape by, all while holding onto the quiet ambition of something greater, of singing perhaps. So when Thomas effortlessly composes his first sea shanty, he doubts himself: Maybe it was written before. Maybe he just heard it somewhere. Like all the songs we’ve ever known. Seascraper isn’t just a young man’s search for a bigger life, it’s every artist’s journey to make it in the world.