A love of reading fuels a workingman鈥檚 desire for a better life
Benjamin Wood is the author of the novel Seascraper.
Marc Seth
I might have missed English writer Benjamin Wood鈥檚 quiet fifth novel, 鈥淪eascraper,鈥� had it not reached the longlist for this year鈥檚 prestigious Booker Prize. That would have been a pity, because it鈥檚 a gorgeous, atmospheric tale about a 20-year-old shrimp harvester who yearns for more out of life.
Set in a fictional coastal town in northwest England called Longferry, (a stand-in for the author鈥檚 hometown of Southport), 鈥淪eascraper鈥� immerses us in the life of Thomas Flett during what turns out to be an unusually exciting, pivotal day for him. The story feels timeless, though it鈥檚 set in the early 1960s.
We meet Tom on a damp morning that begins like every other since he was forced to leave school at age 13 to work alongside his grandfather: Rising well before sunrise, he tends to his horse, bolts the bacon and eggs his mother fries up for him, and heads out in his horse cart under a foggy, predawn drizzle to scrape the shore at low tide for shrimp. He lets his thoughts wander balefully even as he keeps a watchful eye for deadly sinkholes in the rippled sand.
Why We Wrote This
Amid the drudgery of scraping a subsistence from the sea, a man retains an innate sense of his worth and raises his sights.
Tom was raised by his cantankerous late grandfather, who assuaged his disappointments with drink, and by his single mother, Lillian Flett, whom we see through Tom鈥檚 critical eyes. Both mother and son are grateful that Pop let her keep the boy despite the enduring disgrace of her pregnancy at age 15.
Although Tom knows that 鈥淥ne day soon, there鈥檒l hardly be a morsel left for him to scrounge up from the beach that can鈥檛 be got by quicker means at half the price鈥� 鈥� shrimping further down the coast with motor rigs 鈥� he鈥檚 鈥渢he only shanker left in town who鈥檚 steadfast to the old ways.鈥�
We trudge along with Tom through the 30-hour span of the novel. We feel his frustration at his monotonous, barely sustainable life. 鈥淚t bores him worse than it exhausts him,鈥� Wood writes. 鈥淚t never used to foul his mood this much, the cold, the loneliness, the graft, but that was long before he harboured any aspirations for himself besides what he was raised to want.鈥�
Why the change? Tom was a good student who left school with 鈥渁n awareness of his own capacity.鈥� He remains an avid reader, and 鈥渢hese past few years, he鈥檚 come to understand: he settled for too little.鈥� Tom feels most alive when playing folk music on the beat-up guitar for which he traded his grandfather鈥檚 watch. It鈥檚 an activity he feels he must hide from his mother, who worries about making ends meet.
鈥淪eascraper鈥� effectively combines two common literary tropes: 鈥淎 day in the life鈥� and 鈥淎 stranger comes to town.鈥� The stranger is a fast-talking American named Edgar Acheson who claims to be a Hollywood movie director. Like Harold Hill in 鈥淭he Music Man,鈥� Acheson talks big. He鈥檚 eager to film an old novel called 鈥淭he Outermost,鈥� and hopes Henry Fonda will play the lead (one of several tipoffs that 鈥淪eascraper鈥� is set decades ago). He promises to put Longferry on the map. 鈥淚 love the bleakness of this place. I鈥檝e never seen a beach so uninviting,鈥� he raves.
Tom, at first skeptical, is entranced. 鈥淵ou could knock on every door in Longferry and never find a man as interesting,鈥� he thinks.
Acheson hires Tom to bring him to the beach at dusk, during the second low tide of the day, so he can take some scouting shots. They鈥檙e soon dangerously engulfed by dense fog.
Acheson鈥檚 check, paid in advance, is a big windfall for Tom. But whether or not the man turns out to be what he says he is, Tom is grateful for his life lessons. Acheson tells him: 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e young, you think life is a string of choices. ... You don鈥檛 realise that most of what鈥檒l happen to you is because of other people鈥檚 choices. ... Art鈥檚 the only way I鈥檝e ever had of making any sense of it.鈥�
I鈥檒l let readers discover where this is going, but I can say that 鈥淪eascraper鈥檚鈥� revelations and epiphanies are well-earned and surprisingly moving. Wood鈥檚 novel is a lovely moral tale that recognizes the importance of reconciling practical concerns and necessities with spiritual, emotional ones. It is also about the power of art 鈥� music in particular 鈥� to uplift and inspire. And it comes with a link to a recording of Thomas Flett鈥檚 鈥渃art shanker鈥檚 gospel,鈥� a song called 鈥淪eascraper.鈥�