Benjamin Wood

Part Secret History, part Brideshead Revisited for the 21st century, The Bellwether Revivals is a page-turning, romantic, eerie tale of genius and, possibly, madness; a stunning debut for fans of Sarah Waters, Donna Tartt, and Lauren Goff. The Bellwether Revivals opens and closes with bodies. The story of whose bodies and how they come to be spread about an elegant house on the river near Cambridge is told by Oscar, a young, bright working class man who has fallen in love with an upper-class Cambridge student, Iris, and thereby become entangled with a group of close friends, led by Iris's charismatic, brilliant, possibly dangerous brother. For Eden Bellwether believes he can heal -- and perhaps more -- through the power of music. In this masterful debut, we too are seduced by this gilded group of young people, entranced by Eden's powerful personality and his obvious talent as a musician, and caught off guard by the strangeness of Iris and Eden's parents. And we find ourselves utterly unsure as to whether Eden Bellweather is a saviour or a villain, and whether Oscar will be able to solve this mystery in time to save himself, if not everyone else.

Cambridge, nuestros días. Oscar, un enfermero de una residencia de ancianos, conoce a la seductora Iris Bellwether, estudiante de medicina, violonchelista e hija de la burguesía acomodada de la ciudad. Inmediatamente se enamora de ella y entra a formar parte de su grupo de amigos. Es un circulo exclusivo integrado por unos jovenes con unos origenes muy diferentes a los suyos, entre los cuales sobresale Eden, el hermano de Iris, un personaje narcisista y carismatico, convencido de poder sanar a traves de la musica y de la hipnosis. Pero ¿quien es en realidad EdenBellwether? ¿Un genio o un manipulador?

Una cautiva historia de amor

The mesmerising new novel from the acclaimed author of The Bellwether Revivals: a rich and immersive story of love, obsession, creativity and disintegration. On a forested island off the coast of Istanbul stands Portmantle, a gated refuge for beleaguered artists. There, a curious assembly of painters, architects, writers and musicians strive to restore their faded talents. Elspeth 'Knell' Conroy is a celebrated painter who has lost faith in her ability and fled the dizzying art scene of 1960s London. On the island, she spends her nights locked in her blacked-out studio, testing a strange new pigment for her elusive masterpiece. But when a disaffected teenager named Fullerton arrives at the refuge, he disrupts its established routines. He is plagued by a recurring nightmare that steers him into danger, and Knell is left to pick apart the chilling mystery. Where did the boy come from, what is 'The Ecliptic', and how does it relate to their abandoned lives in England?

"Cambridge, de nos jours. Au détour d’une allée du campus, Oscar est attiré par la puissance de l’orgue et des chants provenant de la chapelle de King’s College. Subjugué, il ne peut maîtriser un sen

Longferry, England, Sechzigerjahre. Thomas Flett ist Anfang zwanzig und lebt mit seiner Mutter in armlichen Verhaltnissen. Seinen Vater hat er nie kennengelernt. Die Schule hat er abgebrochen, er verdingt sich als Krabbenfischer: ein Handwerk, das ihn sein Grovater gelehrt hat. Niemand kennt das Meer und seine Gezeiten so gut wie Thomas. Fruh am Morgen bei Niedrigwasser fahrt er mit Pferd und Kutsche los, um sich den Unterhalt fur den Tag zu verdienen, ein Leben von der Hand in den Mund. Heimlich lernt er Gitarre spielen und traumt von Joan, der Schwester seines besten Freundes. Aber fur Traume ist kein Platz in Longferry.Als der amerikanische Regisseur Edgar Acheson in der Stadt eintrifft, wird Thomas vermeintlich einfaches Leben erschuttert. Er bekommt eine Ahnung von der groen, weiten Welt, davon, was da drauen auf ihn warten konnte, und schliet Freundschaft mit dem Mann, der in jeder Hinsicht anders ist als er. Ein Funke in ihm ist entzundet aber nichts ist so, wie es scheint. Nur eines ist sicher: Am nachsten Morgen bei Niedrigwasser wird Thomas wieder dem Ruf des Meeres folgen.Mit Der Krabbenfischer stand Benjamin Wood auf der Longlist des renommierten Booker Prize 2025 und wurde fur den SPIEGEL Buchpreis 2025 nominiert.

The debut novel from the 2025 Booker-longlisted author of SeascraperOne of the finest British novelists of his generation TimesA huge talent Hilary MantelBenjamin Wood is a magnificent writer and I intend to read everything he has written Douglas StuartWhat a writer Richard OsmanA stunningly good debut ... that will keep readers up all night Steven Galloway, author of the Cellist of SarajevoThe novel has at its lodestone Brideshead Revisited. Donna Tartts The Secret History is also in the DNA here ... Readers will find themselves transfixed by this richly drawn cast of characters IndependentBright, bookish Oscar Lowe has grown to love the quiet routine of his life as a care assistant at a Cambridge nursing home, until the fateful day when he is lured into Kings College chapel by the otherworldly sound of an organ. There he meets and falls in love with Iris Bellwether and her privileged, eccentric clique, led by her brother Eden. A troubled but charismatic music prodigy, Eden convinces his sister and their friends to participate in a series of disturbing experiments. However, as the line between genius and madness begins to blur, Oscar fears that danger could await them all ...Benjamin Woods brilliant debut novel will delight fans of The Secret History and Never Let Me Go. Praise for The Bellwether Revivals:Read it. Quite a debut Patrick NeateSuffused with intelligence and integrityGuardianEffortlessly vivid ... Woods confident, sometimes creepy novel draws you in ... and then, once youre inside, holds on, ever tightening the gripIndependent on SundayTheres more than a hint of Donna Tartts The Secret History about this novel highly effectiveDaily Mail

From the 2025 Booker-longlisted author of SeascraperOne of the finest British novelists of his generation TimesA huge talent Hilary MantelBenjamin Wood is a magnificent writer and I intend to read everything he has written Douglas StuartWhat a writer Richard OsmanShortlisted for the Sunday Times PFD Young Writer of the Year Award and the Encore PrizeStunning... Wood has created one of the most moving and human characters in recent fiction Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station ElevenThe mesmerising new novel from the acclaimed author of The Bellwether Revivals: a rich and immersive story of love, obsession, creativity and disintegration.On a forested island off the coast of Istanbul stands Portmantle, a refuge for beleaguered artists. There, a curious assembly of painters, architects, writers and musicians strive to restore their faded talents. Elspeth Knell Conroy is a celebrated painter who has fled the dizzying art scene of 1960s London; on the island, she spends her nights wrestling with her elusive masterpiece. Then a disaffected teenager named Fullerton arrives at the refuge and disrupts its routines. He is plagued by nightmares that steer him into danger, and Knell is left to pick apart the chilling mystery: where did the boy come from, what is The Ecliptic, and how does it relate to their abandoned lives in England?Praise for The Ecliptic:A novelist to watch The Times A resounding achievement . . . Rich, beautiful and written by an author of great depth and resourceEdward Docx, GuardianFull of suspense and beautifully written, superbly imagined and constructed . . . A terrifically gripping and playful bookSunday TimesExhilarating, earthy, cerebral, frank and unflinching . . . A masterfully paced and suspenseful read IndependentA rich, intricate and layered workObserverHaunts the imagination long after the final pageIndependent on Sunday

From the 2025 Booker-longlisted author of SeascraperOne of the finest British novelists of his generation TimesA huge talent Hilary MantelBenjamin Wood is a magnificent writer and I intend to read everything he has written Douglas StuartWhat a writer Richard OsmanWith his third novel, Woods talent has burgeoned spectacularly. The book is a tremendous achievement, an unputdownable domestic thriller that is also subtle and moving travelling well beyond his earlier fiction, Wood has produced a tour de force that marks his creative arrival David Grylls, SUNDAY TIMES A novel written from the gut, and with a correspondingly visceral power. A superbly unsettling account of trauma and cautious recovery SARAH WATERSElegant and disturbing this is a novel of expertly woven tension and frightening glimpses into the mind of the deranged other John Burnside, GUARDIANThe acclaimed author of Seascaper, Benjamin Wood writes a novel of exceptional force and beauty about the bond between fathers and sons, about the invention and reconciliation of self weaving a haunting story of violence and love.For twenty years, Daniel Hardesty has borne the emotional scars of a childhood trauma which he is powerless to undo, which leaves him no peace.One August morning in 1995, the young Daniel and his estranged father Francis a character of two weathers, of irresistible charm and roiling self-pity set out on a road trip to the North that seems to represent a chance to salvage their relationship. But with every passing mile, the layers of Frans mendacity and desperation are exposed, pushing him to acts of violence that will define the rest of his sons life.Praise for The Ecliptic, shortlisted for the Sunday Times/PFD Young Writer of the Year Award:A resounding achievement . . . Rich, beautiful and written by an author of great depth and resourceEdward Docx, GuardianFull of suspense and beautifully written, superbly imagined and constructed . . . A terrifically gripping and playful bookSunday TimesExhilarating, earthy, cerebral, frank and unflinching . . . A masterfully paced and suspenseful read IndependentA rich, intricate and layered workObserverHaunts the imagination long after the final pageIndependent on Sunday A gorgeous and harrowing work Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven

Un matin daoût 1995, Daniel Hardesty, douze ans, et son père Fran, quil na pas vu beaucoup depuis la séparation de celui-ci davec sa mère, prennent la route pour le nord de lAngleterre. Un road-trip

" Wood a créé certains des personnages les plus foncièrement humains et sensibles de la littérature contemporaine. Un roman poignant et dune beauté unique. " Emily St. John Mandel 1972, sur lîle de

In the second decade of the twenty-first century, Quakers are increasingly divided over matters of theology, religious belonging, and the status of Friends Christian past. Recent controversies over Theism, Non-Theism and Universalism have highlighted deep-rooted transformations of Quaker self-understanding. In contrast to earlier decades, many contemporary Quakers hanker after an intensely inclusive community, unhampered by the particulars of Christian theology. Many British Friends no-longer see the Quaker movement as an expression of the Gospel nor a manifestation of the Universal Church. What might Friends be missing by re-imagining Quakerism in these resolutely post-Christian terms? Author Benjamin Wood argues that, far from limiting the bounds of Quaker identity, a selective return to Quakerisms seventeenth-century roots can restore to modern Liberal Friends a shared story capable of deepening their spiritual life and worship-practice. Based neither on doctrinal agreement nor inflexible religious borders, the Quaker narrative recovered in The Living Fountain: Remembrances of Quaker Christianity is drawn together by sacred experiments in mutual love and enduring hope. Through a series of extended reflections on God, Jesus, and the language of salvation, Wood seeks to uncover a dynamic faith ncommitted to universal healing, reconciliation, and the crossing of religious and cultural boundaries. At the centre of this retrieval is the insistence that the God revealed in Quaker worship cherishes our differences and delights in our diversity.

Longlisted for the Booker Prize, this cinematically plotted...radiant (The New York Times) novel follows shanker Thomas Flett as his quiet life in a small English coastal town is forever changed over the course of one fateful day.Twenty-year-old Thomas Flett lives a slow, deliberate life with his mother in Longferry, Northern England, working his grandpas trade as a shanker. He rises early to take his horse and cart to the drizzly shore to scrape for shrimp, and spends the afternoon selling his wares, trying to wash away the salt and sea-scum, pining for his neighbor, Joan Wyeth, and playing songs on his guitar. At heart, he is a folk musician, but this remains a private dream. Then a mysterious American arrives in town, and enlists Thomass help in finding a perfect location for his next movie. Though skeptical at first, soon Thomas starts to trust the stranger, Edgar, and, shaken from the drudgery of his days by the promise of Hollywood glamour, begins to see a different future for himself. But how much of what Edgar claims is true, and how far can his inspiration carry Thomas? Haunting and timeless, from one of the finest British novelists of his generation (The Times) Seascraper tells the story of a quiet existence upturned over the span of one day, and a young man hemmed in by his circumstances, striving to achieve fulfilment far beyond the world he knows.

SEASCRAPER is a mesmerising portrait of a young man confined in by his class and the ghosts of his family's past, dreaming of artistic fulfilment.Thomas lives a slow, deliberate life with his mother in Longferry, working his grandpas trade as a shanker. He rises early to take his horse and cart to the grey, gloomy beach and scrape for shrimp, spending the afternoon selling his wares, trying to wash away the salt and scum, pining for Joan Wyeth down the street, and rehearsing songs on his guitar. At heart, he is a folk musician, but it remains a private dream.When a striking visitor turns up, bringing the promise of Hollywood glamour, Thomas is shaken from the drudgery of his days and begins to see a different future. But how much of what the American claims is true, and how far can his inspiration carry Thomas?Haunting and timeless, this is the story a young man hemmed in by his circumstances, striving to achieve fulfilment far beyond the world he knows.

*LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2025**WINNER OF THE NERO BOOK AWARDS 2025**WINNER OF THE WINSTON GRAHAM HISTORICAL PRIZE 2026**SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2026*A huge talent HILARY MANTELA magnificent writer DOUGLAS STUARTOne of the finest novelists of his generationTHE TIMESThomas lives a slow, deliberate life with his mother in Longferry, working his grandpas trade as a shanker. He rises early to take his horse and cart to the grey, gloomy beach to scrape for shrimp; spending the rest of the day selling his wares, trying to wash away the salt and scum, pining for Joan Wyeth down the street and rehearsing songs on his guitar. At heart, he is a folk musician, but it remains a private dream.When a striking visitor turns up, bringing the promise of Hollywood glamour, Thomas is shaken from the drudgery of his days and begins to see a different future. But how much of what the American claims is true, and how far can his inspiration carry Thomas?Haunting and timeless, this is the story of a young man hemmed in by his circumstances, striving to achieve fulfilment far beyond the world he knows.***MORE PRAISE FOR SEASCRAPER:A book about dreams, an exploration of class and family, a celebration of the power and the glory of music, a challenge to the limits of realism, and - stunningly - a love story BOOKER PRIZE 2025 JUDGESIts a senuous treat, this novel . . . A language of the sea washes over every page ROSS RAISINA tale so richly atmospheric you can almost taste the tang of brine and inhale the sea fog . . . [Wood] transforms the quotidian into the poetic, making the exactitude of each task sing on the pageGUARDIANWood is up there with the very best. He packs more poetry into his opening paragraph than many a Booker-winner achieves in their entire oeuvre JOHANNA THOMAS-CORR, THE TIMESSeascraper shimmers, salt-flecked and ripplingSPECTATOR

A mesmerising portrait of a young man confined in by his class and the ghosts of his family's past, dreaming of artistic fulfilment. It confirms Benjamin Wood as an exceptional talent in British literature.'One of the finest British novelists of his generation' Times'A huge talent' Hilary Mantel'Benjamin Wood is a magnificent writer and I intend to read everything he has written' Douglas StuartThomas lives a slow, deliberate life with his mother in Longferry, working his grandpas trade as a shanker. He rises early to take his horse and cart to the grey, gloomy beach to scrape for shrimp; spending the rest of the day selling his wares, trying to wash away the salt and scum, pining for Joan Wyeth down the street and rehearsing songs on his guitar. At heart, he is a folk musician, but it remains a private dream.

The mesmerising new novel from the acclaimed author of The Bellwether Revivals: a rich and immersive story of love, obsession, creativity and disintegration. On a forested island off the coast of Istanbul stands Portmantle, a gated refuge for beleaguered artists. There, a curious assembly of painters, architects, writers and musicians strive to restore their faded talents. Elspeth 'Knell' Conroy is a celebrated painter who has lost faith in her ability and fled the dizzying art scene of 1960s London. On the island, she spends her nights locked in her blacked-out studio, testing a strange new pigment for her elusive masterpiece. But when a disaffected teenager named Fullerton arrives at the refuge, he disrupts its established routines. He is plagued by a recurring nightmare that steers him into danger, and Knell is left to pick apart the chilling mystery. Where did the boy come from, what is 'The Ecliptic', and how does it relate to their abandoned lives in England?