Seascraper is a 2025 novel by Benjamin Wood. The novel follows Thomas Flett who lives with his mother on the fictional costal town of Longferry in England. Thomas is a seascraper, earning a meager living by using a horse pulled cart to trawl for shrimp the beach. He then sells his daily catch at a local market. At only 20-years old, Thomas must endure this physically demanding work to eek out a living for him and his mother, but he has dreams of becoming a folk singer.
The novel was longlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize. The judges called the novel a "mesmerizing portrait" of a main constrained by his circumstances.[2]
Background
To better depict the beachside atmosphere of the novel, Wood wrote outdoors and used handwriting rather than typing on a computer to draft the work.[3]
Narrative
Thomas Flett is a seascraper; waking up around 5 AM every day to take his horse-drawn cart to the beach at the coastal town of Longferry. He trawls up and down the beach, catching shrimp and then selling his catch the same afternoon at a local market. This is the same trade as his grandfather. Thomas earns a meager living to support him and his mother Lillian, who lives with him. His father left the house before Thomas was born. Thomas has aspirations of becoming a folk singer. He usually practices his guitar after the day's work. However, he has not had the courage to play at the local club. He also has a crush on a local girl, Joan, who works at the post office, but he also does not have the courage to ask her out.
Thomas's mother Lillian entertains suitors in the front room of the house. One of the men she meets is Edgar Acheson, who claims to be a director from America who is in town location scouting for a film adaptation of the novel The Outermost. Edgar believes Longferry can stand in as 1880s Maine in the film production. Edgar asks Thomas to be his guide on the beach during the scouting process. Thomas is captivated by Edgar and his charm and charisma. He believes Edgar may be able to assist him in starting his career as a folk singer. Thomas agrees and guides Edgar around the beach at Longferry, but things quickly go awry as Edgar gets lost in the fog and Thomas almost drowns in a sink pit. Thomas described the sink pits as having the consistency of pudding and able to swallow men whole. Edgars mother soon comes to pick him up, and it is revealed that he is not who he claims to be.
Reception
Jude Cook, writing for The Guardian, stated that Wood's ability to transform everyday life (working a shrimper) into more evocative, vivid prose is what makes reading the novel a pleasure.[4] Writing for The Times Literary Supplement, in a negative review, Christopher Shrimpton criticized the "slightly silly dream sequence" where Thomas writes a song with his estranged father. He stated that the latter parts of the book, when Thomas met Edgar veer towards an "emphatic" (forced) and "mawkish" which is in contrast to the richly atmospheric earlier parts of the book.[5] Johanna Thomas-Corr, writing for The Sunday Times, called the work "A fiercely atmospheric novel that engages the senses." She also commended Wood for the novel, and his previous works, for his mastery in depicting the lives, aspirations and conflicts of the working-class.[3]
↑ Shrimpton, Christopher. "Leaving Longferry". The-tls.com. Times Literary Supplement. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
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