Six Degrees of Separation ~ Seascraper

Wood, Benjamin
"Seascraper" - 2025

#6Degrees of Separation:
from Seascraper (Goodreads) to Wide Sargasso Sea

#6Degrees is a monthly link-up hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. I love the idea. Thank you, Kate. See more about this challenge, its history, further books and how I found this here. 

The starter book this month is "Seascraper" by Benjamin Wood. As usual, I haven't read it. But it sounds interesting, and I might read it at a later time. 

This is the description of the novel:

"Seascraper is a mesmerising portrait of a young man hemmed 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.

Thomas lives a slow, deliberate life with his mother in Longferry, working his grandpa’s 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 of a young man hemmed in by his circumstances, striving to achieve fulfilment far beyond the world he knows.​​​​"

I love the sea, so I had to go this way: Books with SEA in the title.

Allende, Isabel "Island Beneath the Sea" (E: La isla bajo el mar) - 2010

Benali, Abdelkader "Wedding by the Sea" (NL: Bruiloft aan zee) - 1996

Falcones, Ildefonso "Cathedral of the Sea" (E: La catedral del mar) - 2008 

Ghosh, Amitav "Sea of Poppies" (Ibis Trilogy #1) - 2008

Hemingway, Ernest "The Old Man and the Sea" - 1952

Rhys, Jean "Wide Sargasso Sea" - 1966

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Well, the obvious connection would be the word "sea" in the title. But I think there is a connection between Thomas Flett from the starter book and Edward Rochester in Wide Sargasso Sea. Both are young British men who seek a future abroad.

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