THE BOOK
SEASCRAPER BY BENJAMIN WOOD
Thomas lives in Longferry, working his grandpa’s trade as a shanker. Rising early, he heads to the gloomy beach and scrapes for shrimp, though, at heart, he is a folk musician. When a striking visitor turns up, promising Hollywood glamour, Thomas is shaken from his drudgery. But how truthful is the American, and how far can his inspiration carry Thomas?
BENJAMIN WOOD
Benjamin Wood was born in 1981 and grew up in Merseyside. Seascraper is his fifth novel and was longlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize. His previous works have been shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, the Commonwealth Book Prize, the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the RSL Encore Award, the CWA Gold Dagger Award and the European Union Prize for Literature. In 2014, he won France’s Prix du Roman Fnac. He is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at King’s College, London, and lives in Surrey with his wife and sons.
Photography © Marc Sethi
The judges said: Seascraper is an utterly immersive read, steeped in atmosphere, that explores what constitutes a well-lived life.
2025 Fiction judges
