THE BOOK
THE EXPANSION PROJECT BY BEN PESTER
At Capmeadow Business Park, Tom Crowley, a mid-level employee, loses his daughter during ‘bring your daughter to work day’. When she is not found, it transpires she was never there. Refusing to accept this, Tom continues his search, losing his sense of himself and his grip on reality in the maze of corridors and multi-dimensional spaces of his impossibly expanding workplace.
BEN PESTER
Ben Pester is a writer of long and short form fiction. His debut story collection Am I in the Right Place? was published in 2021, and was long listed for the 2022 Edge Hill Prize. His fiction and work has appeared in Granta, The London Magazine, TANK, Hotel, Five Dials and elsewhere. The Expansion Project is his debut novel and has been shortlisted for both The Goldsmith’s Prize and the Nero Prize for Debut Fiction. He lives with his family in North London.
Photography © Marc Sethi
The judges said: A fever dream of a novel, The Expansion Project starts as a very convincing workplace satire but becomes something more dystopian as it progresses. Skilfully written, it evokes J.G. Ballard in its scale and scope.
2025 Debut Fiction judges
