The Young Accomplice
The Young Accomplice
paperback
Published:
6 April, 2023
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Description
'Britain's answer to Donna Tartt' Sunday Times
'A huge talent' Hilary Mantel
'Was this how it was going to be for ever? Wrapping things for customers in womenswear, no conversation. Polishing the counters so her face reflected in the brass and sweeping floors at closing time until the boss said she could leave. How much worse off would she be if she went driving with a stranger for a while?'
When sixteen-year-old Joyce Savigear absconds from work to go out with a man she barely knows, she hopes a new, exciting life is just beginning.
But, two years later, she is waiting on a railway station in the tranquil English countryside. It's the summer of 1952 and she and her younger brother Charlie have just been released from borstal. Another fresh start awaits - but can Joyce ever outrun the darkness of her past?
'What a writer' Richard Osman
'An involving tale of revenge and responsibility, which, while it devastates, also tells us that new lives can be built among the ashes' FT
'The Young Accomplice shows the difference between a book that slides down the surface of things, and one that digs its claws into you and sticks there' The Times
More Details
| Type | Book |
|---|---|
| ISBN13 | 9780241988855 |
| ISBN10 | 0241988853 |
| Number Of Pages | 368 |
| Item Weight | 273 g |
| Product Dimensions | 130 x 198 x 23 mm |
| Publisher / Reseller | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Format | paperback |
Media Reviews
Britain's answer to Donna Tartt * Sunday Times *
Tense and full of menace -- Johanna Thomas-Corr * New Statesman, Books of the Year *
Highly accomplished . . . It's idealistic, gripping and beautifully textured, moving with great power. It's rare to see such attention to character and setting, and I think Wood is one of Britain's best young writers -- Philip Womack * Spectator, Best Books of 2022 *
This satisfyingly old fashioned- feeling novel from a youngish author strikingly conveys its 1950s rural setting, and has a grim pull of foreboding . . . Benjamin Wood's perspective-shifting novel weaves elements of
thriller, romance and coming-of-age to gripping, memorable effect
A treat . . . Wood's daring narrative decisions show he hasn't lost the old spark, but has just added to it with his new repertoire. What, it asks, are the opportunities available to someone who wants to leap clear of their wrong beginnings, when everything that hurts has already been cut? -- John Self * Critic, Fiction Books of the Year *
Benjamin Wood knows how to generate tension, makes lively characters you can see and hear, and writes about rural England in a sensitive, considered way that doesn't stray into the nostalgic. A huge talent -- Hilary Mantel
Wood is a seriously talented writer, able to enter the minds of his characters with eerie precision. The Young Accomplice is an involving tale of revenge and responsibility, which, while it devastates, also tells us that new lives can be built among the ashes * FT *
[Wood's] best novel yet . . . [he] deserves to be far better known -- John Self * Irish Times, 2022 Books of the Year *
A British novelist who deserves more attention than he has had . . . Wood blends storytelling punch with literary sensibility . . . The Young Accomplice shows the difference between a book that slides down the surface of things, and one that digs it claws into you and sticks there * The Times *
Benjamin Wood is a beautiful writer and this is his best novel yet, both gripping and unputdownable. Like people in Thomas Hardy, his characters surge from the page, and the mystery unfolds with a sureness seldom seen in contemporary British fiction
-- Andrew O’Hagan, author of MayfliesGoodReads Reviews
Author's Bio
Benjamin Wood was born in 1981 and grew up in Merseyside. Seascraper is his fifth novel. 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.