Benjamin Wood - Seascraper

Benjamin Wood is one of the finest British novelists of his generation, but youve probably never heard of him, declares Johanna Thomas-Corr, chief literary critic for The Times and The Sunday Times.

After four award-shortlisted novels, this must surely change with Seascraper, winner of the 2025 Nero Book Award for Fiction.In this fiercely atmospheric novel, Wood returns to his Southport hometown to tell the story of Thomas, a 20-year-old shanker who spends his days with a horse and cart scraping for shrimp on the fictional Longferry beach.

Hes a frustrated folk musician, lives with his flirtatious mother and secretly pines for Joan who works in the Post Office.

Into Thomass fog-bound world walks an enigmatic stranger, promising Hollywood glamour beyond the dreams of daily drudgery.Wood is a master of weaving psychological suspense into tales so precisely observed they feel real.

Indeed, there may be something of the author in the depiction of a frustrated teenage singer-songwriter.

Listen out for Wood singing as Thomas in the audio version of Seascraper.A senior lecturer in creative writing at Kings College London, Wood supervised Helen Bains PhD on the poet Syliva Plath.

Bain will be talking about the resulting novel, Daffodil Days, as one of this years Hiscox Debut Authors.