Booker 101 Quick & Dirty Monday!
SEASCRAPER : Benjamin Wood
Scribner: 4 November 2025 (US)Penguin Books Ltd.: 17 July 2025 (UK) (I’m using the UK version)
Page Count: 163
First line: Thomas Flett relies upon the ebb tide for a living, but he knows the end is near.
Blurbed by:
Hilary Mantel – (Nominated for the Booker four times, she’s the first woman to win the Booker twice – 2009 for WOLF HALL and 2012 for BRING UP THE BODIES. Her blurb is about Wood not the novel.)
Ross Raisin – (Numerous awards. No Booker nominations.)
Andrew O’Hagan – (Nominated for the Booker Prize three times, shortlisted in 1999 for OUR FATHERS. His blurb is about Wood not the novel.)
Benjamin Myers – (Numerous awards. No Booker nominations.)
SEASCRAPER is Benjamin Wood’s fifth novel. At 17, he dropped out of A-levels to pursue a singer-songwriter career; however, he was unable to land a record deal. He went on to get his degrees in art and design, screenwriting, and creative writing. He teaches creative writing at King’s College in London.
Don’t Judge a Book
There’s no picking between covers with Benjamin Wood’s SEASCRAPER as the upcoming Scribner edition has the exact same cover as the Penguin publication – I can see why because it’s a great cover.
The cover is the perfect depiction of the beginning of the novel, capturing the feel of the novel without being too fussy. And there’s a reason it looks like it could be the cover to a folk album.
“He’s been closer to the grave than he has ever been to marriage. “ (119)
“But he doesn’t have that sort of motivation. He’s no empire builder.” (10)
Benjamin Wood’s SEASCRAPER is an unassuming, slim little novel that is simply beautiful to read. The writing is gorgeous, and the story of Thomas Flett with his horse and cart out on the sea shrimping for a living while dreaming of being a folksinger will settle on your bones like a heavy fog. And then Thomas almost dies, and the novel hums with an electric fever dream energy that changes both Thomas and the reader. It’s so well done.
Things of note:
We have yet another professor who can’t keep it in his pants – this time with a 15-year-old girl.
The relationship between Thomas Flett and his mother, Lillian, reminds me a bit of Shuggie Bain.
The pregnant woman without a tongue who takes him to his father (or the devil).
His father and the song. (This actually made me think of a SNL skit with Garth Brooks where a man sells his soul for a top song, only the Devil isn’t any good at songwriting. “Oh the Devil never could write a love song…)
Edgar Acheson changing his name to be “more agreeable” in the industry.
Lasting effects of the war seen in both Edgar’s addiction to Benzedrine and the loss of Flett’s father.
Mildred’s treatment of her son. “The son I had before the war was so much easier to love.”
The inclusion of the song – there is a website provided with a recording so readers can listen to Wood / Flett. It’s a nice song and clearly Wood hasn’t abandoned all of his singer/song writer aspirations.
I really enjoyed this novel, and I think it is a palatable crowd favorite. I would love to see it shortlisted.
A Girl Named Tommi 