Seascraper

Name: Seascraper
Author: Benjamin Wood
ISBN: 9781405975087

Benjamin Wood

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Seascraper

Benjamin Wood

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Seascraper won the Nero Book Awards 2025 and the Winston Graham Historical Prize 2026, was longlisted for the Booker Prize 2025, and was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2026. Thomas lives a slow, deliberate life with his mother in Longferry, working his grandpa's trade as a shanker. He rises early to take his horse and cart to the grey, gloomy beach to scrape for shrimp; spending the rest of the day selling his wares, trying to wash away the salt and scum, pining for Joan Wyeth down the street and rehearsing songs on his guitar. At heart, he is a folk musician, but it remains a private dream. When a striking visitor turns up, bringing the promise of Hollywood glamour, Thomas is shaken from the drudgery of his days and begins to see a different future. But how much of what the American claims is true, and how far can his inspiration carry Thomas? Haunting and timeless, this is the story of a young man hemmed in by his circumstances, striving to achieve fulfilment far beyond the world he knows.

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